Some very interesting facts about refugees.
1. The United Nations estimates that over 14 million people have already fled their homes in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion, with nearly 8 million people seeking refuge in other countries. Y
2. Around half of the world’s 26 million refugees are under the age of 18
3. 85% of the world’s refugees are accommodated in developing countries
4. The UK received 3,762 asylum applications from separated children in 2021
5. In proportion to its population, the UK ranks 14th in Europe for asylum applications
6. In 2019, 68% of the world’s refugees came from just five countries:
Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar
7. 45% of separated children applying for asylum in the UK in the year up to June 2020 were from Iran, Vietnam and Afghanistan
9. There were 676,300 first-time asylum applications in the EU in 2019, with Germany and France receiving the most
10. Of the age disputes raised by the Home Office in 2019, over half were found to be less than 18 years old
11. The number of refugees globally has steadily increased since 2012 but within Europe, the number of asylum-seeker applications has significantly decreased from 1.3m in 2016 to 676,300 in 2019
12. In the last decade 400,000 unaccompanied and separated children have lodged asylum applications throughout the world
13. The number of separated children internationally has decreased since 2015 with numbers in Europe following a similar pattern, dropping from 95,205 to 17,890 in 2019
14. The grant rate for asylum or other forms of leave for separated children in 2019 was 79%
15. In 2020, worldwide, 21,000 children applied for asylum having arrived in the country of refuge alone, with no parent or guardian.
16. An inspection of the Asylum Intake Unit in Kent in September concluded that there are significant concerns that the Home Office is not complying with its duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of separated children
The facts above are taken from a 2020 internal report, which we commissioned to educate our strategy, and recent updates on www.gov.uk