AN ANALYSIS OF UNHCR’S 2018 GLOBAL REFUGEE STATISTICS HOW GENEROUS IS AUSTRALIA’S REFUGEE PROGRAM COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES? Australian political leaders regularly claim that Australia has one of the most generous refugee responses in the world. But what do UNHCR’s official statistics for 2018 tell us? In its 2018 Global Trends report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that the world’s refugee population had reached 25.9 million by the end of December 2018 and that another 3.5 million were seeking asylum. Of these, 5.5 million refugees are Palestinians recognised under the mandate of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and 20.4 million are refugees under UNHCR’s mandate. Source countries for refugees The largest numbers of refugees are from Syria (6.65 million), Afghanistan (2.68 million), South Sudan (2.29 million), Myanmar (1.15 million) and Somalia (950,000). In 2018, the largest increases in refugee populations were from Syria (343,850), Democratic Republic of Congo (99,500), Afghanistan (57,230), Central African Republic (45,350) and Nigeria (37,850). The number of people seeking asylum globally grew by 412,400, with much of this increase resulting from the crisis in Venezuela. In just 12 months, the number of Venezuelans seeking asylum grew by 316,250 to 464,230. OfficiAl refugee populAtion The five countries hosting the largest number of refugees as at 31 December 2018, according to UNHCR, were Turkey (3.68 million), Pakistan (1.40 million), Uganda (1.17 million), Sudan (1.08 million) and Germany (1.07 million). By comparison, Australia’s official refugee population was 56,933 – 45th overall, 50th per capita and 88th relative to national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These refugee population figures tell only part of the story. They exclude refugees who have been resettled but, in Australia’s case, they include those who have been given permanent protection onshore over the past 10 years and refugees on temporary protection visas. As UNHCR statistics focus on identifying people for whom the agency has a particular responsibility under its mandate, these refugee population figures favour nations in which large numbers of refugees remain in unresolved and protracted situations and give less weight to the contribution of nations offering permanent protection and resettlement. Refugee resettlement Many of the outlandish political claims within Australia focus solely on refugee resettlement, despite the fact that so few refugees get access to resettlement. In 2018, just 92,424 refugees were resettled from one country to another, less than 0.4% of the total refugee population. Australia’s resettlement of 12,706 refugees during the 2018 calendar year saw the country ranked third overall for Sydney office: Melbourne office: Suite 4A6, 410 Elizabeth Street Suite 601, 580 Collins Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia Phone: +61 (02) 9211 9333 ● Fax: (02) 9211 9288 Phone: +61 (03) 9600 3302 [email protected] [email protected] Web: www.refugeecouncil.org.au ●Twitter: @OzRefugeeCounc Incorporated in ACT ● ABN 87 956 673 083 resettlement (behind Canada and USA) – second per capita and relative to national GDP (behind Canada). Recognition of refugees through asylum processes During 2018, 1.56 million people who sought asylum were recognised as refugees, through group recognition of refugees arriving in larger numbers, individual assessment of asylum claims or through granting temporary protection. The nations in which the largest numbers of refugees were newly recognised in 2018 were Turkey (402,550), Sudan (190,290), Uganda (180,660), Germany (105,540) and Cameroon (55,320). Australia recognised 10,300 refugees in 2018, most of them given temporary protection visas. In global terms, Australia was ranked 29th for recognition of refugees in 2018 – 30th per capita and 60th relative to GDP. AustrAliA’s contribution through Asylum And resettlement processes The most accurate reflection of Australia’s contribution can be found by combining the numbers of given protection for the first time through an asylum or recognition process or given further protection through resettlement. In 2018, 1.65 million people had their refugee status recognised or were resettled. By this measure, Australia recognised or resettled 23,002 refugees in 2018 (1.39% of the global total), being ranked 14th overall, 20th per capita and 60th relative to national GDP. As numbers vary considerably across different countries from year to year, it is more useful to look at these statistics over a 10-year period. Between January 2009 and December 2018, Australia recognised or resettled 180,790 refugees. This represented 0.89% of the 20.3 million refugees recognised globally over that period. Australia’s total contribution for the decade is ranked 25th overall, 29th per capita and 54th relative to national GDP. Table 1: Australia in global refugee statistics, 2018 To Australian Australia’s Overall Per Global total total total share rank capita GDP Asylum seekers recognised as refugees, 2018 1,560,689 10,926 0.70% 29 30 60 Refugees resettled from other countries, 2018 92,424 12,706 13.75% 3 2 2 Refugees recognised or resettled, 2018 1,653,113 23,002 1.39% 14 20 60 Refugees recognised or resettled, 2009 to 2018 20,301,094 180,788 0.89% 25 29 54 Asylum applications received in 2018 1,680,628 28,839 1.72% 18 36 77 Asylum applications pending, 31 December 2018 3,503,284 60,645 1.73% 13 21 61 Refugees under UNHCR mandate 20,360,562 56,933 0.28% 45 50 88 Table 1 has been drawn from the spreadsheets published by UNHCR with its 2018 Global Trends report, with the figures since 2009 drawn from previous years’ reports. The key statistics – refugees recognised and resettled over the past decade – are highlighted in bold. The tables which follow provide more detail about refugee numbers by countries of origin and asylum, changes in refugee populations, numbers of asylum claims and some key resettlement statistics. Table 2: Refugees recognised in 2018, by country of asylum Granted Total Group Individual Per 1000 Per $b Country of asylum temporary recognised Rank Rank Rank recognition recognition popn GDP protection as refugees Turkey - 397,611 4,941 402,552 1 4.914 1 524.84 13 Sudan 186,536 - 3,754 190,290 2 4.585 2 5613.27 2 Uganda 160,646 - 20,013 180,659 3 4.081 4 6429.15 1 Germany - - 105,544 105,544 4 1.283 14 26.79 37 Cameroon 52,766 - 2,552 55,318 5 2.241 5 1436.83 7 Greece - 31,600 15,460 47,060 6 4.227 3 214.40 21 France - - 46,952 46,952 7 0.720 19 16.57 42 Ethiopia 42,129 - 5 42,134 8 0.392 34 524.71 14 United States - - 35,198 35,198 9 0.108 52 2.25 90 Nigeria 32,601 - 223 32,824 10 0.170 44 85.04 24 Italy - - 30,660 30,660 11 0.517 24 14.58 46 Kenya 7,276 - 16,579 23,855 12 0.468 26 267.43 20 Chad 22,049 - 397 22,446 13 1.462 12 2059.27 5 Malaysia - - 21,124 21,124 14 0.660 21 59.20 28 South Sudan 19,581 - 61 19,642 15 1.520 10 5036.41 3 Austria - - 18,887 18,887 16 2.158 6 41.07 35 Canada - - 16,875 16,875 17 0.457 28 10.35 51 Bangladesh - 16,252 - 16,252 18 0.098 54 56.47 30 DR Congo 15,968 - 73 16,041 19 0.191 42 376.55 16 Iraq 15,609 - 36 15,645 20 0.397 32 69.10 26 Jordan 13,323 - 1,616 14,939 21 1.509 11 352.33 17 Switzerland - - 14,926 14,926 22 1.747 8 21.52 40 United Kingdom - - 14,478 14,478 23 0.217 40 4.57 67 Egypt 5 5,288 8,880 14,173 24 0.142 48 56.87 29 Niger 2,924 8,838 1,587 13,349 25 0.598 23 1450.98 6 Zambia - - 12,385 12,385 26 0.703 20 491.47 15 Sweden - - 11,355 11,355 27 1.138 15 20.59 41 Burundi - - 10,697 10,697 28 0.954 18 3146.18 4 Australia - - 10,296 10,296 29 0.416 30 7.23 60 Mali - - 9,481 9,481 30 0.497 25 551.22 12 Rwanda 8,157 - 39 8,196 31 0.656 22 862.74 10 Mauritania 5,900 - 153 6,053 32 1.333 13 1164.04 8 Russian Federation - - 6,043 6,043 33 0.042 72 3.90 72 Mexico - - 5,921 5,921 34 0.047 71 3.58 75 Yemen 4,873 153 255 5,281 35 0.183 43 196.32 23 Belgium - - 5,045 5,045 36 0.439 29 9.57 54 Malawi - - 4,795 4,795 37 0.250 38 694.93 11 Ecuador - - 4,757 4,757 38 0.282 36 44.05 33 Afghanistan 3,937 - 2 3,939 39 0.109 51 200.97 22 Netherlands - - 3,653 3,653 40 0.214 41 3.95 71 Spain - - 3,173 3,173 41 0.068 61 1.55 95 Somalia 2,034 - 459 2,493 42 0.164 45 332.40 18 Finland - - 2,282 2,282 43 0.411 31 8.19 58 Djibouti 1,903 - - 1,903 44 1.958 7 865.00 9 India - - 1,728 1,728 45 0.001 132 0.62 113 Denmark - - 1,621 1,621 46 0.282 37 4.43 68 Norway - - 1,522 1,522 47 0.284 35 3.47 78 Indonesia - - 1,508 1,508 48 0.006 115 1.40 97 Morocco - 1,084 401 1,485 49 0.040 73 12.50 47 Cyprus - - 1,214 1,214 50 1.021 17 49.55 31 Other countries (100) 1,110 388 20,542 22,040 Total 599,327 461,214 500,148 1,560,689 Source: UNHCR 2018 Global Trends, data table 3 Table 3: Refugees resettled in 2018, by receiving country Country of resettlement Resettlement arrivals Rank Per 1000 popn Rank Per $b GDP Rank Canada 28,076 1 0.760 1 17.22 1 United States of America 22,938 2 0.070 14 1.46 14 Australia 12,706 3 0.513 2 8.93 2 United Kingdom 5,806 4 0.087 9 1.83 9 France 5,560 5 0.085 10 1.96 10 Sweden 4,935 6 0.494 3 8.95 3 Germany 3,217 7 0.039 15 0.82 15 Norway 2,484 8 0.464 4 5.66 4 Netherlands 1,227 9 0.072 12 1.33 12 Switzerland 1,079 10 0.126 7 1.56 7 New Zealand 1,004 11 0.212 5 6.42 5 Belgium 880 12 0.077 11 1.67 11 Spain 830 13 0.018 17 0.41 17 Finland 606 14 0.109 8 2.17 8 Italy 400 15 0.007 20 0.19 20 Ireland 338 16 0.071 13 1.12 13 Croatia 110 17 0.027 16 1.40 16 Iceland 53 18 0.157 6 1.85 6 Portugal 35 19 0.003 22 0.16 22 Slovenia 34 20 0.016 18 0.45 18