Data for 2008

Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2008

Figures for 2008, as UNHCR published them · stored as published, never rewritten

Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2008 covers 155 countries. South Africa is highest, at 227,124; 17 countries share the lowest reading, 0. The middle country reads 440. Against 2007, 144 values changed (76 up, 68 down), 2 countries joined, 1 left.

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Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum · Data for 2008

HighestSouth Africa

227,124

Lowest17 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.

155countries
1measure
2008the year it describes
130distinct 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, 2008, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 155 countries · select a heading to sort

Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2008: every country, as published by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa	227,124
United StatesUSANorthern America	69,188
CanadaCANNorthern America	54,187
GreeceGRCSouthern Europe	38,035
AustriaAUTWestern Europe	36,687
EcuadorECUSouth America	33,900
GermanyDEUWestern Europe	33,263
FranceFRAWestern Europe	31,496
SwedenSWENorthern Europe	24,075
SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe	17,155
EgyptEGYNorthern Africa	14,653
BelgiumBELWestern Europe	14,261
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe	13,600
NorwayNORNorthern Europe	13,593
ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia	12,563
VenezuelaVENSouth America	11,928
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe	9,743
MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia	9,322
UgandaUGAEastern Africa	9,248
SomaliaSOMEastern Africa	9,243
KenyaKENEastern Africa	8,762
CyprusCYPWestern Asia	8,003
TürkiyeTURWestern Asia	7,107
MalawiMWIEastern Africa	6,538
SudanSDNNorthern Africa	5,862
BurundiBDIEastern Africa	5,269
LibyaLBYNorthern Africa	4,833
IsraelISRWestern Asia	4,601
IrelandIRLNorthern Europe	4,583
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa	4,449
PolandPOLEastern Europe	4,381
GabonGABMiddle Africa	4,296
IndiaINDSouthern Asia	3,774
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa	3,250
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa	3,179
PakistanPAKSouthern Asia	2,950
FinlandFINNorthern Europe	2,736
SenegalSENWestern Africa	2,692
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia	2,648
HungaryHUNEastern Europe	2,514
JapanJPNEastern Asia	2,292
SyriaSYRWestern Asia	2,237
CameroonCMRMiddle Africa	2,221
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand	2,140
IraqIRQWestern Asia	2,059
MaliMLIWestern Africa	1,910
RussiaRUSEastern Europe	1,800
IranIRNSouthern Asia	1,705
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa	1,656
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa	1,447
CzechiaCZEEastern Europe	1,422
NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa	1,326
UkraineUKREastern Europe	1,300
South KoreaKOREastern Asia	1,287
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe	1,223
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa	1,216
Hong KongHKGEastern Asia	1,088
BulgariaBGREastern Europe	1,060
NepalNPLSouthern Asia	975
AlgeriaDZANorthern Africa	899
ChileCHLSouth America	875
YemenYEMWestern Asia	826
KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia	753
ArgentinaARGSouth America	710
JordanJORWestern Asia	668
GuineaGINWestern Africa	628
Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa	608
PanamaPANCentral America	596
PeruPERSouth America	570
ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa	525
LebanonLBNWestern Asia	511
BrazilBRASouth America	496
GhanaGHAWestern Africa	495
DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe	485
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe	471
TogoTGOWestern Africa	448
Costa RicaCRICentral America	441
EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa	440
MoroccoMARNorthern Africa	439
DjiboutiDJIEastern Africa	426
Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia	389
RwandaRWAEastern Africa	347
IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia	346
Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa	329
Guinea-BissauGNBWestern Africa	325
SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe	307
Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa	293
RomaniaROUEastern Europe	287
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa	255
BeninBENWestern Africa	197
Saudi ArabiaSAUWestern Asia	189
BotswanaBWASouthern Africa	181
ArmeniaARMWestern Asia	170
EritreaERIEastern Africa	128
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia	123
New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand	113
North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe	95
LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe	93
Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean	93
BoliviaBOLSouth America	84
PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia	78
SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe	74
ColombiaCOLSouth America	71
United Arab EmiratesAREWestern Asia	67
CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia	59
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa	56
BelarusBLREastern Europe	54
MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa	53
CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe	52
ChadTCDMiddle Africa	51
BahrainBHRWestern Asia	48
TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa	45
OmanOMNWestern Asia	44
TajikistanTJKCentral Asia	41
AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia	40
SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe	34
LatviaLVANorthern Europe	33
UruguayURYSouth America	33
QatarQATWestern Asia	31
LiberiaLBRWestern Africa	30
LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe	29
IcelandISLNorthern Europe	25
NigerNERWestern Africa	22
AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe	20
MoldovaMDAEastern Europe	18
MexicoMEXCentral America	15
GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia	14
ChinaCHNEastern Asia	12
Timor-LesteTLSSouth-eastern Asia	12
AfghanistanAFGSouthern Asia	10
BelizeBLZCentral America	10
LiechtensteinLIEWestern Europe	10
CubaCUBCaribbean	6
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa	5
EstoniaESTNorthern Europe	5
FijiFJIMelanesia	5
GuatemalaGTMCentral America	5
Papua New GuineaPNGMelanesia	5
BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia	0
El SalvadorSLVCentral America	0
GambiaGMBWestern Africa	0
HondurasHNDCentral America	0
ItalyITASouthern Europe	0
MongoliaMNGEastern Asia	0
MontenegroMNESouthern Europe	0
MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia	0
NicaraguaNICCentral America	0
ParaguayPRYSouth America	0
PortugalPRTSouthern Europe	0
SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia	0
SpainESPSouthern Europe	0
TurkmenistanTKMCentral Asia	0
UzbekistanUZBCentral Asia	0
VanuatuVUTMelanesia	0
VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia	0

02In 2008

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

South Africa227,124
United States69,188
Canada54,187
Greece38,035
Austria36,687

Lowest

Vanuatushared0
Vietnamshared0
Uzbekistanshared0
Turkmenistanshared0
El Salvadorshared0

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 440. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032007 → 2008

Since 2007

What changed between 2007 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+2 / −1countries joined / left
144values changed, of 153 in both
76 · 68rose · fell
9unchanged

Rose most

South Africa170,864 → 227,124+56,260
Canada37,509 → 54,187+16,678
Greece28,448 → 38,035+9,587
Norway6,641 → 13,593+6,952
Ecuador27,395 → 33,900+6,505

Fell most

United States83,855 → 69,188−14,667
Cyprus11,879 → 8,003−3,876
Syria5,862 → 2,237−3,625
Sweden27,686 → 24,075−3,611
Guinea4,017 → 628−3,389

+ Fiji

+ Vanuatu

− Antigua and Barbuda

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

130 distinct values among 155
Values are stored exactly as published. 17 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 155 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
155 rows · 4.2 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download asylum-seekers-hosted-2008-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=2008&yearTo=2008&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 (2008). Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2008 [data set], describing 2008. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/asylum-seekers-hosted/2008

0626 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2007
154 countries
The year after ›
Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, 2009
161 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