The vast majority of refugees – 4 out of 5 – stay in their region of displacement, and consequently are hosted by developing countries. Turkey now hosts the highest number of refugees with 3.7 million, followed by Pakistan with 1.4 million.
The UK offered protection – in the form of grants of asylum, alternative forms of protection and resettlement – to 18,519 people in the year June 2018 - June 2019 (up 29% compared with the previous year). Of these, 25% (or 4,563) were children.
According to UNHCR statistics, in 2018 there were 126,720 refugees, 45,244 pending asylum cases and 125 stateless persons in the UK.
The majority of asylum-seekers do not have the right to work in the United Kingdom and so must rely on state support.
Housing is provided, but asylum-seekers cannot choose where it is, and it is often ‘hard to let’ properties which Council tenants do not want to live in.
Cash support is available, and is currently set at £37.75 per person, per week, which makes it £5.39 a day for food, sanitation and clothing.
Resettlement is the transfer of refugees from a country where they have initially sought asylum - often in the same region as their country of origin - to a third state which has agreed to admit them.In the year ending June 2019, 5,691 people were resettled in the UK, (roughly the same number as the previous year), including 4,200 under the VPRS and 742 under the VCRS.