information > challenging the myths

the global perspective

The UK takes more than its fair share of refugees and asylum seekers

The number of people seeking asylum in Europe is spiralling out of control

Asylum seekers in the UK are benefits shoppers who have already arrived in safe European countries before making their way to Britain

The UK supports developing countries with foreign aid and shouldn't have to take on the burden of their refugees as well

---

The UK takes more than its fair share of refugees and asylum seekers

Fact: The UK, one of the richest countries in the world, hosts less than 2 per cent of the world’s total refugee population (1).

Global share: If you consider global refugee and asylum seeking populations in relation to the host country's overall size, population and wealth, the UK ranks 32nd in the world (2).

The number of asylum applications the UK received in 2002 represented about 0.01 per cent of the global refugee population and about 0.03 per cent of the refugee population in Europe (3). However, a recent MORI poll revealed that on average the British public believes that 23 per cent of the world’s refugees and asylum seekers are in the UK, more than ten times the actual figure (4).

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there were almost 19.8 million people of concern to the agency worldwide as of 1 January 2002, of which over 12 million were refugees and 940,800 were asylum seekers. Approximately one in every 300 people on earth is a refugee (5).

The world's poorest countries take responsibility for the vast majority of refugees. Nearly two thirds of all refugees are hosted in the Middle East and in Africa. Taking the greatest burden are Iran, Burundi and Guinea.3 Guinea, a country with a population of 7 million, is currently home to 3 million Sierra Leonean and 150,000 Liberian refugees. Indeed, monthly asylum figures in countries such as Tanzania and Pakistan are comparable to the total annual asylum application statistics of some European countries (6).

Population: The UK also takes in a small number of refugees relative to its population. Whereas the UK hosts just over 3 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants – or 0.3 per cent of its population – Armenia hosts 70, Congo hosts 40, and Yugoslavia hosts 38 (6).

Europe: While in terms of absolute numbers the UK received more applicants (85, 865) than any other EU country in 2002, this is a very recent development. Most applicants were from Iraq, Zimbabwe, Somalia and Afghanistan – countries with well-documented human rights abuses. Between 1990 and 2000, just under two million people applied for asylum in Germany – four times as many as in the UK. When compared to the size of the total national population - a key indicator of the capacity of countries to host asylum seekers - the UK ranked only 8th in Europe in 2002 and 12th over the past decade as a whole (1992-2001). Whereas the UK received 1.9 asylum seekers per 1,000 inhabitants, it lagged well behind Austria (4.6 per capita), Norway (3.9), Sweden (3.7), Switzerland, Ireland (3.1), Liechtenstein (2.8) and Luxembourg (2.4) (7).

Applications in the UK accounted for 19 per cent of all asylum claims lodged in the industrialised world during 2002, followed by the USA (14 per cent), Germany (12 per cent) and France (9 per cent). The UK, Germany and France accounted for 50 per cent of all asylum applications submitted in Europe in 2002, with the UK taking 24 per cent (1).

However, the UK’s refugee population is by no means disproportionate when compared to the rest of Europe. In 2001, the UK’s proportion of refugees to its population was roughly in line with that of Europe as a whole – a ratio of 1 to 317, as compared to a Europe-wide ratio of 1 to 290 (8).

Refugee Action supports current discussions amongst European governments for a common, unified EU policy for dealing with asylum applications which would ensure that European countries share their responsibilities while maintaining the highest standards of refugee protection and human rights.

back to top

---

The number of people seeking asylum in Europe is spiralling out of control

Fact: Asylum-seeking in Europe is in decline. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of refugees entering Europe has almost halved over the past decade. Applications to EU countries fell from 675,460 in 1992 to 384,530 in 2001 – a drop of about 43 per cent (9).

On average, the European Union received 1 asylum claimant per 1,000 inhabitants during 2002 (3). And the numbers are still falling. Asylum applications to the 15 member countries of the EU in 2002 were down 2 per cent on 2001, from 388,400 to 381,600 (1).

back to top

---

Asylum seekers in the UK are benefits shoppers who have already arrived in safe European countries before making their way to Britain

Fact: In 2002 the Home Office refused asylum to 1,110 people on the grounds that they had arrived via “safe” third countries – just one per cent of all asylum applicants.

Many asylum-seekers travel through Europe in the hands of people-smugglers because there is no direct or legitimate route out of their country of origin. Once asylum-seekers have entrusted their fate to traffickers, they often have little say about their final destination.

back to top

---

The UK supports developing countries with foreign aid and shouldn't have to take on the burden of their refugees as well

Fact: During 1992-2001, while 86 per cent of the world's estimated 12 million refugees originated from developing countries, such countries provided asylum to 72 per cent of the global refugee population (5).

For many refugees, their status as members of persecuted ethnic or political groups means that they cannot find safety in neighbouring countries.

The UK has yet to set a timetable for reaching the target, set by the world’s richest countries in 1970, of giving 0.7% of its national wealth (GNP) to overseas aid. Today, only five of these countries - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - are meeting this target. The UK’s aid spending – presently at 0.32 per cent, down from 0.52 per cent in 1979 - remains below the EU average (10). On present form, it will be 40 years before the UK reaches the 0.7% target.

Only a small proportion of overseas aid is spent on the world’s main refugee-producing countries. Despite the widely-acknowledged fact that, in the words of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “poverty and under-development is a threat to stability and peace,” ( 11) just 38 per cent of EU aid went to low-income countries in 2000 (12).

back to top

---

Sources

1 Refugees by Numbers 2002 Edition, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, July 2002. Quoted by Refugee Council, “UK 'not burdened by refugees'”, BBC News, 27 December 2002.
2 Refugee Council, Nailing Press Myths About Refugees, December 2002
3 Refugee Council ,Refugees In Today’s World, December 2002. According to UNHCR (source 1) the UK received 9.5 per cent of asylum applications lodged worldwide in 2001.
4 ‘Attitudes towards Refugee and Asylum Seekers: A Survey of Public Opinion’, MORI Social Research Institute, June 2002. Commissioned by Refugee Action, Amnesty International UK, the Commonwealth Institute, RefAid, Refugee Council, Save the Children UK and UNHCR.
5 Refugees by Numbers 2002 Edition, UNHCR, July 2002
6 UNHCR UK, “Refugee Myths: Fact or Fiction”, 2002
7 Number of asylum applications submitted in 30 industrialized countries, 1992-2001, Compiled by UNHCR (Population Data Unit).
8 Number of Refugees Per Capita of Total Populations, UNHCR Statistical Unit 2001
9 UNHCR, as quoted in “Asylum crisis hyped in Europe, says UN” Martin Bright, Observer, June 2 2002
10 “The Monterrey poverty summit”, Mark Tran, The Guardian, March 18 2002
11 UNICEF, “Aid Spending - Reaching 0.7 per cent”, July 2002
12 Labour Party, Joint agency press release, 14 July 1998

back to top