Trends and Drivers of Refugees in Africa

Ruth Oladele,Isaac Olufadewa,Miracle Adesina,Adesola Abiodun,Nancy Adeyelu,Emmanuel Adehunoluwa,Ogheneruona Onathoja,Olamide Omigbile,Muhammad Adeel,Funmilayo Abudu

doi:10.21601/ejeph/11379

Abstract

Introduction: Increase in refugees’ population poses great political, socio-economic and health challenges to Africa. This study aims to discuss the trends and drivers of refugees in African countries based on their country of origin. Methods: This study utilized secondary data on the population of refugees in all African countries from 1990 to 2017 based on their countries of origin. The data utilized were compiled by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2019, IBM SPSS 25 and Adobe Photoshop CS6. Results: Seven countries account for about 66.3% of the refugee population in Africa within 1990 to 2017, five of which are in East Africa. The trend in population of African refugees from 1990 to 2017 can be divided into four phases. Phase one, a sharp decline in refugee population from 1990 till 1992, 1994 till 1997; phase two, a sharp rise in population of refugees’ from 1992 till 1994; phase three, a relatively stable period from 1998 till 2011 and phase four, an acute rise from 2011 till 2017 where it peaks. The drivers of African refugee migration are climate change, natural disasters, economic hardship, and violence and tensions. Conclusion: The refugee population over three decades has been on the rise with occasional periods of decline. This poses great socio-economic and health challenges to the refugees as well as the host countries themselves. It is therefore necessary that the government and other concerned stakeholders create solutions to the causes of this increase in refugee population.

Highlights

Increase in refugees’ population poses great political, socio-economic and health challenges to Africa
Over 26% of the global population of refugees is found in Sub-Saharan Africa are found in the Sub-Saharan Africa, the highest population found in any region (UNHCR, 2019)
The highest population of refugees during this period was from Somalia (19,217,481) and the lowest, from Lesotho (238)

Summary

Introduction

Increase in refugees’ population poses great political, socio-economic and health challenges to Africa. Since the end of World War II, there has been a constant rise in the number of refugees globally (UN, 2019). Fraogmen (1970) explained that this may be due to the constant turbulence in various nations after this era. The global population of refugees rose steadily from 2.8 million in 1976 to about 21.3 million in 2017, including adults and children (UNHCR, 2019). Over 26% of the global population of refugees is found in Sub-Saharan Africa are found in the Sub-Saharan Africa, the highest population found in any region (UNHCR, 2019). According to the 1951 Refugee convention, a refugee is “someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion” (UNHCR, 2017). It is quite difficult to give a definite definition of a refugee (Fraogmen, 1970)

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