DATA SNAPSHOT OF

MIGRANT AND DISPLACED CHILDREN IN AFRICA

Most migrants in Western Africa and Eastern Africa stay within their own region

1 in 4
African migrants is a child
1 in 2
African refugees is a child
International migrants by region of origin and destination in Africa, 2017 (migrant stock
in millions)
Central
Afric
a
e 0 1
rop 8 10 2 3 4
Eu 6 5
6
ica an 4 0
er be
rib 2

e m
2

th A
Ca
& tin
ca La

4
0
Fact 1: More international migrants move within Africa than beyond the

eri n
Amrther

Ea
2

ste 8
continent

Ocean No

rn A
0
ia

frica
0

10
As of 2017, over 19 million Africans lived outside their country of birth but still within the continent.

4 5
An additional 17 million Africans have migrated from the continent since birth. The bulk of these

12
Asia
emigrants have gone to Europe (55 per cent) and to Asia (26 per cent), mostly the Gulf States. While

14
2
this inter-continental emigration is driven mostly by countries in Northern Africa, in both Eastern

0 1
Africa and Western Africa, migration is primarily contained within the region: Around 70 percent of

16
migrants in each area stayed within the same region.

0
14

2
12
How to read this chart: The coloured arrows show the direction of migration from the place of origin (emigration)

No
ric 0
1

r
to the place of destination (immigration). At the example for Eastern Africa (see thin black arrows): In 2017, almost 10

th
a

er
6
million persons from Eastern Africa lived outside of their country of births. Half of those, 5 million, lived in a country

nA
er 8
Af

fri
8

n
within the same region. Another around 1 million lived in Europe and in Asia, respectively. The remaining migrants

c
6 a
t
es 10
lived in one of the other regions in Africa or the other global regions. Besides Eastern African countries themselves, W 4
0
Central Africa is the only other region of origin providing a noteworthy number of immigrants living Eastern Africa 2
0 3 4 2
1

(around 1 million). Sou 5 6 7 8

thern
Africa
UNDESA 2017

Fact 2: 1 in 4 international migrants in Africa is a child – 6.5 million in total The largest numbers of child migrants live in South Africa and Nigeria
Top 10 countries hosting the largest numbers of international migrants under 18 years of age in
Africa, 2017 (migrant stock in thousands)
Africa has the largest share of children among its migrant population – over one in four immigrants
in Africa is a child, more than twice the global average. The share is particularly large in Western and South Africa 642
Eastern Africa, where in countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya children account for more than Nigeria 599
40 per cent of immigrant population. These countries also host some of the largest child migrant Ethiopia 530
populations in Africa in absolute terms – the largest housed by South Africa with 642 thousand Uganda 456
migrants under the age of 18 in 2017. Kenya 415
Côte d'Ivoire 313
Angola 302
Democratic Republic
of the Congo 256
South Sudan 241
Sudan 230 UNICEF analysis based on UNDESA 2017
© United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), February 2019
Fact 3: More than half of all refugees in Africa are children, 4 million Fact 4: An estimated 7 million children in Africa are internally
in total displaced
At the end of 2017, 7.4 million refugees originated from African countries – 2 million more Top 5 African countries with largest number of conflict-related internally displaced persons, 2017
than the previous year, and children are disproportionately represented among them. Some (in millions)
57 per cent of all African refugees are children – totaling more than 4 million (as of end of
2017). The largest numbers of African child refugees come from South Sudan, followed by
Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic. Democratic Republic Nigeria
Sudan South Sudan Ethiopia
of the Congo 2.1 1.7
1.9 1.1
African countries take on much of the responsibility for hosting Africa’s refugees. Some 4.5
90 per cent of African refugees found asylum in other African countries. Uganda is hosting
the largest number of refugees in Africa and is in the same moment an example of good IDMC 2018
practice in relation to receipt and integration of refugees.1 In total more than 14 million persons are internally displaced in Africa due to conflict and
violence, half of them is estimated to be children.2 The Democratic Republic of the Congo
Largest refugee populations (over 100,000) in Africa by country of origin and destination, 2017
alone holds 4.5 million of the internally displaced persons at the end of 2017. In 2017 alone,
(in thousands)
4.7 million persons got newly displaced within their own country representing
40 percent of the new replacement globally for that year.

Egypt Fact 5: Almost 2 million former refugees and internally displaced

200
persons returned to their homes in 2017
Eritrea Top 5 African countries with largest number of returned refugees and internally displaced persons
Mali 500
Niger 700 900 (IDPs), 2017 (in thousands)
200 200 Sudan
Chad
400 Returned refugees Returned IDPs

Nigeria Ethiopia Nigeria 283 Sudan 386

200 2,400 300 900
Central African
Republic South Sudan
Cameroon 500 Somalia Central African Nigeria 382
300 Uganda 1,000 Republic 79
1,400 Kenya
300
400 Democratic
Democratic
600
Rwanda
200 Burundi 71 Republic 256
Republic
of the Congo of the Congo
500
Burundi United Republic of Somalia 41 Libya 150
400 Tanzania
300
Rwanda 18 Central African
Republic 89
UNHCR 2018

UNHCR counted over 500 thousand former refugees and 1.3 million internally displaced
persons (IDPs) having returned to their homes during 2017 – though, the actual numbers
may be significantly higher. Nigeria and Sudan alone accounted for 380 thousand returnees.
Age 18
and over
Under age 18 For most countries the number of returning formerly displaced children is not available.
Refugees by country of origin
But similar movements included 80,000 children returning from Angola to the Democratic
Refugees by country of destination
Republic of the Congo during the last months of 2018 alone – all in need of humanitarian
UNHCR 2018
assistance.3

1
UNHCR & UNICEF, Inclusion of Refugee Children in National Child Protection Systems: Guidance for IDMC 2018: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Global Internal Displacement Database, 2018.
Practitioners in East Africa, 2017. UNDESA 2017: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Trends in
2
UNICEF analysis based on IDMC 2018 (number of children estimated by UNICEF based on the age structure of International Migrant Stock: The 2017 Revision. United Nations, New York, 2017.
the national population) UNHCR 2018: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2017,
3
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/more-80000-children-returned-angola-dr-congo-urgent-need-humanitarian- UNHCR, Geneva, 2018
assistance