Countries of origin and destination of refugees
Of the countless refugees in 2023, most came from Venezuela and from Syria. On the other side are the United States of America and Germany as most often chosen host countries for an application for asylum.Our listing shows on both sides the 50 largest countries on the basis of data collected from UNHCR. Included are the numbers of initial applications for asylum. The rejection and admission quotas of individual countries can be found on the detail view of each country.
Origin and host countries 2023
For 2023, 2.96 million initial refugee asylum applications were registered worldwide. The number of initial applications accepted was 544,579, or about 18 percent. The map shows the countries from which most people fled.
Top 50 of the countries of origin
| Origin | applications for asylum | per million inhabitants |
|---|---|---|
| Venezuela | 250,005 | 8,834 |
| Syria | 200,648 | 9,069 |
| Sudan | 194,452 | 4,148 |
| Afghanistan | 167,137 | 4,064 |
| Colombia | 155,750 | 3,002 |
| Somalia | 152,869 | 8,687 |
| Turkey | 118,836 | 1,398 |
| Cuba | 105,548 | 9,414 |
| Haiti | 101,685 | 8,777 |
| Nicaragua | 88,360 | 12,717 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 75,258 | 760 |
| Eritrea | 71,571 | 19,427 |
| Honduras | 67,899 | 6,508 |
| Bangladesh | 55,417 | 324 |
| India | 52,303 | 37 |
| Pakistan | 50,275 | 213 |
| Russia | 45,606 | 316 |
| Peru | 43,154 | 1,267 |
| Mexico | 43,087 | 338 |
| Burkina Faso | 37,839 | 1,669 |
| Ethiopia | 37,541 | 304 |
| Cameroon | 37,027 | 1,326 |
| Chad | 36,830 | 2,078 |
| Iran | 36,173 | 409 |
| Ukraine | 33,408 | 879 |
| China | 32,665 | 23 |
| Iraq | 32,651 | 734 |
| Egypt | 32,010 | 288 |
| Morocco | 31,775 | 848 |
| Nigeria | 31,086 | 142 |
| Burundi | 30,482 | 2,365 |
| Guatemala | 29,090 | 1,676 |
| Georgia | 27,491 | 7,405 |
| El Salvador | 21,006 | 3,315 |
| Ecuador | 20,910 | 1,162 |
| Guinea | 20,033 | 1,445 |
| Brazil | 19,309 | 90 |
| Ivory Coast | 17,851 | 634 |
| Sri Lanka | 17,387 | 784 |
| South Sudan | 16,118 | 1,477 |
| Myanmar | 14,199 | 262 |
| Tunisia | 13,875 | 1,123 |
| Palestine | 12,884 | 2,555 |
| Algeria | 12,345 | 275 |
| Albania | 11,442 | 4,119 |
| Mali | 11,227 | 497 |
| Senegal | 10,580 | 611 |
| Vietnam | 10,088 | 103 |
| Angola | 9,508 | 267 |
| Kenya | 8,276 | 153 |
Top 50 destination countries
| Destination | applications for asylum | per million inhabitants |
|---|---|---|
| United States of America | 642,542 | 1,928 |
| Germany | 329,017 | 3,926 |
| Egypt | 183,011 | 1,649 |
| Spain | 163,050 | 3,413 |
| Canada | 146,608 | 3,765 |
| Mexico | 140,767 | 1,104 |
| Italy | 135,659 | 2,302 |
| France | 123,864 | 1,822 |
| Kenya | 92,931 | 1,720 |
| United Kingdom | 84,332 | 1,244 |
| Austria | 59,157 | 6,543 |
| Brazil | 58,533 | 272 |
| Greece | 57,841 | 5,547 |
| Ethiopia | 46,208 | 375 |
| Netherlands | 38,233 | 2,160 |
| Uganda | 37,795 | 800 |
| Costa Rica | 35,960 | 6,941 |
| Australia | 32,552 | 1,251 |
| Central African Republic | 32,061 | 5,747 |
| Libya | 30,328 | 4,452 |
| Belgium | 29,455 | 2,521 |
| Switzerland | 26,842 | 3,059 |
| Togo | 23,561 | 2,663 |
| Nigeria | 23,263 | 106 |
| Bulgaria | 22,483 | 3,478 |
| South Africa | 20,427 | 341 |
| Turkey | 19,017 | 224 |
| Sudan | 18,888 | 403 |
| South Korea | 18,717 | 362 |
| Tanzania | 13,268 | 203 |
| Ireland | 13,095 | 2,554 |
| Zambia | 13,083 | 654 |
| Rwanda | 12,899 | 936 |
| Japan | 12,862 | 103 |
| Cyprus | 11,820 | 9,445 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 10,393 | 105 |
| Malaysia | 10,112 | 298 |
| Romania | 10,099 | 530 |
| Peru | 9,764 | 287 |
| Poland | 9,572 | 260 |
| Uruguay | 9,001 | 2,630 |
| Russia | 8,492 | 59 |
| Sweden | 8,417 | 803 |
| Slovenia | 7,244 | 3,430 |
| Pakistan | 6,694 | 28 |
| Tunisia | 6,694 | 542 |
| Israel | 6,618 | 692 |
| Colombia | 5,721 | 110 |
| Cameroon | 5,542 | 199 |
| Ecuador | 5,425 | 301 |
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