AUSTRALIA'S REFUGEE PROGRAM
Facts + Stats
GLOBAL STATISTICS
1 Number of Total Persons of Concern (POC) worldwide, by category
The Total Persons of Concern as at 31 Dec 2004 is 19.2 million.
Source: UNHCR (2005), 2004 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook (provisional)
A Refugee is a person recognised as a refugee under the 1951
Refugee Convention/ 1967 Protocol or the 1969 OAU Convention.
An Asylum-seeker is a person whose application for asylum or
refugee status is pending at any stage in the procedure or who is otherwise registered
as an asylum-seeker.
A Returned Refugee is a refugee who has returned to his or
her place of origin during the preceding year.
An Internally Displaced Person (IDP) is a person who is displaced
within his or her country and to whom the UNHCR extends protection and/or assistance,
pursuant to a special request by a competent organ of the United Nations.
A Returned IDP is an IDP who has returned to his or her place
of origin during the preceding year and is receiving assistance from the UNHCR.
Source: UNHCR (2004), 2003 Global Refugee Trends, Table
1
2 Number of Persons of Concern Worldwide, 1995-2006
| Year |
Number of POC (million) |
Number of refugees (million) |
| 1995 |
- |
15.6 |
| 1996 |
- |
14.1 |
| 1997 |
19.8 |
12.7 |
| 1998 |
19.9 |
12.1 |
| 1999 |
20.6 |
12.5 |
| 2000 |
21.9 |
13.0 |
| 2001 |
19.9 |
13.1 |
| 2002 |
20.7 |
11.5 |
| 2003 |
17.0 |
9.7 |
| 2004 |
19.2 |
9.2 |
| 2005 |
21.0 |
8.7 |
| 2006 |
32.9 |
9.9 |
Note that UNHCR did not start collating statistics on POCs until 1997.
3 Ratio of refugees to host country populations, as at 31 Dec 2006
| Host country |
Ratio of refugee population
to total population |
Number of refugees |
| West Bank + Gaza |
1:2 |
1'739'000 |
| Jordan |
1:6 |
862'700 |
| Lebanon |
1:13 |
294'200 |
| Syria |
1:15 |
1'329'300 |
| Chad |
1:35 |
286'800 |
| Congo (DRC) |
1:62 |
60'000 |
| Ecuador |
1:64 |
207'500 |
| Iran |
1:69 |
1'025'000 |
| Cyprus |
1:75 |
13'400 |
| Pakistan |
1:77 |
2'161'500 |
| Tanzania |
1:78 |
485'700 |
| Saudi Arabia |
1:100 |
241'100 |
Source: USCR (2007), World Refugee Survey, Table 12
4 Capacity of refugee and asylum seeker hosting countries
4.1 Number of Persons of Concern (POC) per 1000 inhabitants of host
country, 1998-2003
(Note that these figures do not include Palestinian refugees as they are not
covered by UNHCR's mandate.)
| Country |
POC per 1000 inhabitants |
| Armenia |
80 |
| Serbia and Montenegro |
28 |
| Djibouti |
25 |
| Congo (DR) |
23 |
| Zambia |
19 |
| Iran |
18 |
| United Rep of Tanzania |
16 |
| Guinea |
16 |
| Chad |
15 |
| Sweden |
12 |
Source: UNHCR (2005), 2005 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook,
Fig. VII.3, p.75
4.2 Number of refugees per 1 USD per capita of host country, 2001-2005
(Note that these figures do not include Palestinian refugees
as they are not covered by UNHCR's mandate.)
| Country |
POC per 1 USD GDP per capita |
| Congo (DR) |
2314 |
| Pakistan |
2276 |
| Tanzania |
2216 |
| Ethiopia |
1224 |
| Uganda |
976 |
| Iran |
526 |
| Nepal |
517 |
| Kenya |
512 |
| Zambia |
470 |
| Burundi |
411 |
Source: UNHCR (2005), 2005 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook,
Fig. VII.2, p.75
5 Asylum applications in industrialised countries, 2000-2004
5.1 Number of asylum applications in industrialised countries, 2000-2004
| Region |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
| Europe |
475,400 |
492,390 |
481,720 |
396,780 |
314,260 |
| Canada/USA |
115,160 |
148,380 |
139,770 |
105,720 |
77,860 |
| Australia/New Zealand |
14,620 |
13,970 |
6,860 |
5,140 |
3,680 |
| Republic of Korea/Japan |
260 |
390 |
290 |
430 |
580 |
| Total |
605,440 |
655,130 |
628,640 |
508,070 |
396,380 |
Source: UNHCR (2004), Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized
Countries, 2004, Table 1.
5.2 Number of asylum applications submitted in the first instance in
Australia and `Like' Countries, 1997-2003
| Country |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
Total |
| Australia |
9,312 |
8,156 |
9,451 |
13,065 |
12,366 |
5,863 |
4,295 |
86,162 |
| Canada |
22,584 |
23,838 |
29,393 |
34,252 |
44,038 |
39,498 |
31,937 |
299,738 |
| Denmark |
5,092 |
9,370 |
12,331 |
12,200 |
12,512 |
6,068 |
4,593 |
79,814 |
| France |
21,416 |
22,375 |
30,907 |
38,747 |
54,291 |
58,971 |
59,768 |
350,283 |
| Germany |
104,353 |
98,644 |
95,113 |
78,564 |
88,287 |
71,127 |
50,563 |
958,165 |
| Italy |
1,858 |
11,122 |
33,364 |
15,564 |
9,620 |
16,015 |
13,455 |
105,191 |
| New Zealand |
1,495 |
1,972 |
1,528 |
1,551 |
1,601 |
997 |
841 |
12,403 |
| Sweden |
9,662 |
12,844 |
11,231 |
16,303 |
23,515 |
33,016 |
31,348 |
171,359 |
| United Kingdom |
41,500 |
58,500 |
91,200 |
98,900 |
91,600 |
103,080 |
60,047 |
679,027 |
| United States |
52,200 |
35,903 |
32,711 |
40,867 |
59,432 |
58,439 |
43,338 |
723,662 |
Source: UNHCR (2003), 2003 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook (provisional),
Table C.1
5.3 Percentage of asylum applications recognised in the first instance
in Australia and `Like' Countries, 1994-2003
| Country
| 1994
| 1995
| 1996
| 1997
| 1998
| 1999
| 2000
| 2001
| 2002
| 2003
| Total |
| Australia |
13.3 |
9.1 |
18.1 |
6.6 |
23.8 |
15.5 |
32.6 |
30.4 |
13.7 |
5.2 |
17.8 |
| Canada |
70.3 |
70.1 |
57.6 |
52.4 |
55.5 |
58.0 |
58.0 |
58.3 |
57.8 |
49.6 |
57.8 |
| Denmark |
100.0 |
84.1 |
68.3 |
54.5 |
58.1 |
59.1 |
49.2 |
52.6 |
28.2 |
22.3 |
60.5 |
| France |
23.6 |
16.3 |
19.6 |
17.0 |
19.4 |
19.3 |
17.1 |
17.0 |
16.2 |
14.1 |
17.3 |
| Germany |
9.7 |
18.7 |
17.1 |
17.1 |
13.0 |
13.1 |
16.9 |
26.9 |
8.4 |
6.1 |
14.3 |
| Italy |
17.7 |
16.6 |
24.8 |
21.0 |
30.0 |
72.5 |
6.6 |
20.2 |
12.4 |
21.7 |
16.5 |
| New Zealand |
15.0 |
25.9 |
13.3 |
16.9 |
10.3 |
11.7 |
8.2 |
18.7 |
21.2 |
17.2 |
14.6 |
| Sweden |
71.4 |
39.8 |
50.8 |
62.0 |
52.1 |
34.4 |
43.8 |
29.7 |
21.7 |
13.5 |
44.9 |
| United Kingdom |
29.9 |
29.2 |
24.8 |
27.0 |
40.0 |
71.7 |
38.2 |
32.0 |
38.2 |
19.5 |
34.7 |
| United States |
22.0 |
20.0 |
21.8 |
19.1 |
23.3 |
38.3 |
43.6 |
43.2 |
36.1 |
29.2 |
28.8 |
Source: UNHCR(2003), 2003 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook (provisional),
Table C.13
5.4 Number of asylum applications recognised in Australia and Like
Countries, 1994-2003
| Country |
1951 convention refugee status |
Allowed to stay for humanitarian reasons |
Arrival of resettled refugees |
Temporary protection and other |
Total |
| Australia |
22,146 |
* |
103,857 |
* |
126,003 |
| Canada |
130,416 |
|
108,844 |
|
239,260 |
| Denmark |
15,605 |
36,888 |
9,816 |
7,549 |
69,858 |
| France |
75,745 |
|
|
|
5,745 |
| Germany |
156,759 |
21,263 |
|
350,000 |
528,022 |
| Italy |
8,536 |
4,309 |
|
68,527 |
81,372 |
| New Zealand |
2,901 |
|
7,453 |
|
10,354 |
| Sweden |
6,065 |
87,656 |
18,446 |
|
112,167 |
| United Kingdom |
158,233 |
105,814 |
350 |
|
264,397 |
| United States |
187,935 |
|
714,608 |
|
902,543 |
* The omission of figures for humanitarian and temporary
status in Australia is because UNHCR use these terms in different ways to the
typical use in Australia.
Source: UNHCR (2003), 2003 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook (provisional),
Table C.23
Australian statistics
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