The Missing Million Somalis

The Somali Diaspora makes a major contribution to the Somali economy and
livelihoods through remittances, humanitarian assistance and participation in
recovery and reconstruction efforts. This study seeks to highlight where and how
the Diaspora’s development efforts are currently focused so that the UN/UNDP
can better understand and support their significant humanitarian and development
activities.
2. With 14% of its population outside, Somalia is a globalised nation. At least one
million Somalis live in the Diaspora, concentrated in three main areas: the Horn
of Africa and Yemen; the Gulf States; and Western Europe and North America.
3. Kenya and Yemen have most refugees. In Europe, the UK has the largest Somali
community and attracts Somali migrants from elsewhere in the same continent.
The next largest are Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Italy. The US
and Canada have big Somali communities concentrated in Minneapolis, Ohio and
Toronto. The Somali Diaspora is still on the move. Malaysia and Australia are
new growth areas.

The Diasporas

Communities from the Region in Europe and North America

One of the Karnon Foundation's primary objectives is to help the young people in immigrant communities, whose families originate from the region, to gain a balanced understanding of the realities of the region.

Eritrea

The large world-wide Eritrean diaspora, possibly as many as a half-million on top of Eritrea's estimated 3.5 million population, consists mainly of refugees from the war with Ethiopia.

Yemen

The Yemeni diaspora is largely concentrated in the United Kingdom, where between 70,000 and 80,000 Yemenis reside, also just over 10,000 Yemenis reside in the United States and 2,000 live in France.

Ethiopia

About 20,000 Ethiopians live in the United Kingdom, mainly in London. However, many have fled to Yemen in recent years and Ethiopian refugees crossing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden were the most numerous group in 2009.

UN Report - Somalis

The size and strength of the Diaspora is in large part a product of the lack of functioning
state institutions in Somalia that would otherwise have tapped the hidden, scattered and
badly utilized resources it contains. The challenge remains whether and how the Diaspora
can deploy its resources – financial, intellectual, social and political – to achieve
reconciliation and a stable political and economic order in the country.