Data for 2003

Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2003

Figures for 2003, as UNHCR published them · stored as published, never rewritten

Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2003 covers 147 countries. United States is highest, at 350,860; 19 countries share the lowest reading, 0. The middle country reads 318. Against 2002, 132 values changed (73 up, 59 down), 2 left.

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Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum · Data for 2003

HighestUnited States

350,860

Lowest19 countries share it

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end. Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.

147countries
1measure
2003the year it describes
120distinct valueswhole numbers, as published
Sep 26, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2003, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 147 countries · select a heading to sort

Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2003: every country, as published by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

United StatesUSANorthern America	350,860
GermanyDEUWestern Europe	128,042
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa	84,089
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe	44,635
CanadaCANNorthern America	41,570
SwedenSWENorthern Europe	35,250
AustriaAUTWestern Europe	33,564
SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe	24,529
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe	23,900
FranceFRAWestern Europe	22,900
BelgiumBELWestern Europe	22,582
PakistanPAKSouthern Asia	13,702
BurundiBDIEastern Africa	10,565
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa	9,215
MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia	9,199
MalawiMWIEastern Africa	8,846
AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia	8,796
IrelandIRLNorthern Europe	7,366
GreeceGRCSouthern Europe	7,251
JordanJORWestern Asia	6,728
CameroonCMRMiddle Africa	5,675
EgyptEGYNorthern Africa	5,390
GabonGABMiddle Africa	5,122
CyprusCYPWestern Asia	5,065
SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe	4,634
GhanaGHAWestern Africa	4,082
KenyaKENEastern Africa	4,015
CzechiaCZEEastern Europe	3,737
TürkiyeTURWestern Asia	3,448
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa	3,419
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa	3,222
RwandaRWAEastern Africa	3,019
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand	2,978
ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia	2,645
EcuadorECUSouth America	2,554
GuineaGINWestern Africa	2,545
North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe	2,285
VenezuelaVENSouth America	2,282
SenegalSENWestern Africa	2,260
DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe	2,015
NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa	1,989
DjiboutiDJIEastern Africa	1,651
PolandPOLEastern Europe	1,512
Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa	1,318
ArgentinaARGSouth America	1,188
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa	1,120
BotswanaBWASouthern Africa	1,075
New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand	1,019
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa	999
UzbekistanUZBCentral Asia	967
SyriaSYRWestern Asia	931
UkraineUKREastern Europe	874
BeninBENWestern Africa	804
HungaryHUNEastern Europe	758
BulgariaBGREastern Europe	736
UgandaUGAEastern Africa	723
MaliMLIWestern Africa	710
IsraelISRWestern Asia	703
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe	695
KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia	634
YemenYEMWestern Asia	616
ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa	553
BrazilBRASouth America	551
IndiaINDSouthern Asia	530
LebanonLBNWestern Asia	523
Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa	491
SudanSDNNorthern Africa	477
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa	441
IraqIRQWestern Asia	437
TajikistanTJKCentral Asia	433
JapanJPNEastern Asia	424
TogoTGOWestern Africa	329
EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa	326
BelarusBLREastern Europe	318
Papua New GuineaPNGMelanesia	305
RomaniaROUEastern Europe	302
RussiaRUSEastern Europe	275
NepalNPLSouthern Asia	232
EritreaERIEastern Africa	200
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia	192
SomaliaSOMEastern Africa	190
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa	180
Hong KongHKGEastern Asia	179
MoroccoMARNorthern Africa	174
PeruPERSouth America	174
ChadTCDMiddle Africa	162
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa	161
Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa	136
MoldovaMDAEastern Europe	131
South KoreaKOREastern Asia	126
SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe	122
PanamaPANCentral America	95
Saudi ArabiaSAUWestern Asia	94
LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe	90
AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe	86
LiechtensteinLIEWestern Europe	85
Costa RicaCRICentral America	79
Guinea-BissauGNBWestern Africa	77
AfghanistanAFGSouthern Asia	71
MexicoMEXCentral America	66
United Arab EmiratesAREWestern Asia	61
CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe	59
IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia	56
LibyaLBYNorthern Africa	55
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe	54
MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa	50
ChileCHLSouth America	48
CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia	44
QatarQATWestern Asia	42
ChinaCHNEastern Asia	39
SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe	33
PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia	32
ArmeniaARMWestern Asia	30
NigerNERWestern Africa	27
OmanOMNWestern Asia	21
ColombiaCOLSouth America	15
NicaraguaNICCentral America	15
Timor-LesteTLSSouth-eastern Asia	12
BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia	8
TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa	6
BelizeBLZCentral America	5
CubaCUBCaribbean	5
El SalvadorSLVCentral America	5
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa	5
ParaguayPRYSouth America	5
Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia	5
TurkmenistanTKMCentral Asia	5
UruguayURYSouth America	5
AlgeriaDZANorthern Africa	0
BoliviaBOLSouth America	0
EstoniaESTNorthern Europe	0
FinlandFINNorthern Europe	0
GambiaGMBWestern Africa	0
GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia	0
GuatemalaGTMCentral America	0
HondurasHNDCentral America	0
IcelandISLNorthern Europe	0
IranIRNSouthern Asia	0
ItalyITASouthern Europe	0
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia	0
LatviaLVANorthern Europe	0
LiberiaLBRWestern Africa	0
LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe	0
NorwayNORNorthern Europe	0
PortugalPRTSouthern Europe	0
SpainESPSouthern Europe	0
VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia	0

02In 2003

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

United States350,860
Germany128,042
South Africa84,089
Netherlands44,635
Canada41,570

Lowest

Vietnamshared0
Portugalshared0
Norwayshared0
Latviashared0
Luxembourgshared0

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 318. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032002 → 2003

Since 2002

What changed between 2002 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −2countries joined / left
132values changed, of 147 in both
73 · 59rose · fell
15unchanged

Rose most

South Africa52,447 → 84,089+31,642
Pakistan1,597 → 13,702+12,105
Malaysia1,574 → 9,199+7,625
Greece1,801 → 7,251+5,450
Austria29,494 → 33,564+4,070

Fell most

United States395,358 → 350,860−44,498
Germany163,975 → 128,042−35,933
Sudan23,449 → 477−22,972
United Kingdom41,300 → 23,900−17,400
Netherlands58,134 → 44,635−13,499

− Comoros

− Madagascar

Changes in value, not in places: a country’s place also moves when others do. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

120 distinct values among 147
Values are stored exactly as published. 19 countries share 0. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Which end is better
Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 147 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
147 rows · 4.1 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download asylum-seekers-hosted-2003-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
UNHCR’s own file, on its own site.
https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=1000&yearFrom=2003&yearTo=2003&coa_all=true

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 4.0. Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.

Cite this edition

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (2003). Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2003 [data set], describing 2003. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/asylum-seekers-hosted/2003

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2002
149 countries
The year after ›
Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2004
148 countries
All of them
Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum: every year
26 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions