Canada beats US in terms of refugee resettlement: Pew Research Center reports

In 2018, Canada resettled more refugees than US for the first time and it led the world in this regard. It is first time when Canada beat US since the Refugee Act of 1980. Pew Research Center analysis suggested the facts about refugee resettlements in 2018 on the base of new data gathered from United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Canada settled 28000 refugees in 2018 and it was equal to the numbers in 2017. US settled only 23000 refugees in 2018 while it settled 33000 in 2017. A decline is seen in the US’s number of refugee resettlement. UK and Australia also faced a decline in the number of refugee resettlements in 2018.

On a global level, 92000 refugees settled by the countries in 2018 while the number was 103000 in 2017. 2016 was a peak year in this regard as 189000 refugees settled by the countries that year. Overall the refugee population increased in the year 2018 and it reached the highest number of 20.4 million so far. US led the world in terms of refugee resettlements until 2017.

US still holds the record of the most number of refugee resettlements since 1980. US has resettled almost 3 million refugees so far. Canada has resettled 658000 refugees so far while Australia has resettled 486000 refugees so far. Refugees cannot enter their parent country without legal permission. Refugees are referred by the UNHCR and other non-governmental organizations.

In 2018, 47% of the total number of resettled refugees were from Middle East while 32% were from Africa. The refugees from Middle East got settled in Australia (49%), Canada (55%), and UK (85%). In the United States, only 1% of the refugees from Middle East resettled. US provided resettlement to the African refugees by 51% and Asian refugees by 27% in 2018. Overall, Canada provided most number of refugee resettlements in 2018.