1/30/24, 3:23 PM Canada, not U.S.

, resettled the most refugees in 2018 | Pew Research Center

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JUNE 1 9 , 2019

Canada now leads the world in refugee

resettlement, surpassing the U.S.

BY JYNNAH RADFORD AND PHILLIP CONNOR

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1/30/24, 3:23 PM Canada, not U.S., resettled the most refugees in 2018 | Pew Research Center

A Syrian refugee woman and child arrive at their new home in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland in 2015. In 2018, people
from Middle Eastern countries accounted for 85% of resettled refugees in the UK. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Canada resettled more refugees than the United States in 2018, the first time the U.S. did
not lead the world on this measure since the adoption of the Refugee Act in 1980,
according to a Pew Research Center analysis of new data from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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Canada resettled 28,000 refugees last year, similar to its total in 2017. Meanwhile, the U.S.
resettled 23,000, down from 33,000 the previous year – and a recent high of 97,000 in
2016. Several other leading countries for refugee resettlement, including Australia and the
United Kingdom, also saw declines last year.

Globally, 92,000 refugees were resettled in 2018, down from 103,000 in 2017 and a peak
of 189,000 in 2016. The decrease occurred despite an increase in the world’s total refugee
population in 2018, when it reached a record 20.4 million, according to UNHCR.

The sharp drop in U.S. refugee resettlement is in part due to the Trump administration’s
decision to set a considerably lower cap on the number of refugees allowed into the U.S.
than in previous years. In the U.S., the number of refugees admitted for resettlement is set
by the president.

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Until 2017, the U.S. resettled more refugees each year than the rest of the world’s
countries combined. Since 1980, the U.S. has resettled millions more refugees than other
countries – a total of about 3 million. The next two countries, Canada (658,000) and
Australia (486,000), have resettled fewer than a million each over the same period.

Refugee resettlement numbers per capita also differ across countries. The U.S. resettled
about 70 refugees for every million of its own residents in 2018, lower than the rate in
many other nations. Canada led the world on this measure by resettling 756 refugees per
million residents. Australia (510), Sweden (493) and Norway (465) also had much higher
resettlement figures per million than the U.S.

Resettled refugees do not enter their destination country until they have legal permission
to do so, because they apply for refugee status while in another country. Refugees are
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referred by UNHCR and other nongovernmental organizations. The refugee approval

process for the U.S. can take several months or years while security checks on prospective
refugees are completed. Resettled refugees differ from those seeking asylum; asylum
seekers are people who migrate and cross a border without first having received legal
permission to enter their destination country.

In 2018, nearly half (47%) of the world’s resettled refugees were from Middle Eastern
countries, while almost one-third (32%) were from Africa. People from Middle Eastern
countries – mostly Syria and Iraq – accounted for 49% of resettled refugees in Australia,
55% in Canada and 85% in the UK. By contrast, fewer than 1% of refugees resettled in the
U.S. in 2018 were from the Middle East, in part due to shifting regional caps. Most
resettled refugees in the U.S. were from countries in Africa (51%) or Asia (27%).

Correction: This post has been updated to include the correct share of global resettled
refugees from Middle Eastern countries in 2018.

Note: See details on our regional grouping of countries here.

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1/30/24, 3:23 PM Canada, not U.S., resettled the most refugees in 2018 | Pew Research Center

Topics Immigration & Migration, Refugees & Asylum Seekers

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Jynnah Radford is a former research assistant who focused on global migration and
demographic research at Pew Research Center.
POSTS BIO EMAIL

Phillip Connor is a former senior researcher focusing on demography and migration

studies at Pew Research Center.
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