Somali diaspora

The Somali civil war led to the Somali diaspora, where most of the best educated Somalis left for Northern Europe, The Middle East, and North America.

United Kingdom and Europe

In Europe, the distribution of Somalis by country is hard to measure because Somali communities have grown so quickly in recent years. The 2001 UK census reported 43,691 Somalis, but recent estimates range between 95,000 and 250,000. [Hermione Harris, [http://www.icar.org.uk/download.php?id=67 The Somali community in the UK: What we know and how we know it] , Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees in the UK, King's College London, June 2004, accessed 2 March 2007] In the United Kingdom, London, Sheffield, Birmingham (Small Heath), Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, and Leicester are home to the largest concentration of Somalis. There are also significant Somali communities in the Netherlands: 21,733 (2005)Fact|date=March 2007; Norway: 19,656 (2007) [ [http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/02/01/10/innvbef_en/tab-2007-05-24-01-en.html Statistics Norway] ] ; Denmark: 16,564 (2006)Fact|date=March 2007; Sweden: 18,342 (2006) [ [http://www.ssd.scb.se/databaser/makro/Visavar.asp?yp=tansss&xu=C9233001&huvudtabell=UtrikesFoddaR&deltabell=02&deltabellnamn=Foreign%2Dborn+persons+in+Sweden+by+country+of+birth+and+sex%2E+Year&omradekod=BE&omradetext=Population&preskat=O&innehall=UtrikesFodda&starttid=2000&stopptid=2006&Prodid=BE0101&fromSok=&Fromwhere=S&lang=2&langdb=2 Statistical database, Statistics Sweden] ] ; and Finland: 7300 [fi icon [http://www.stat.fi/tup/tietoaika/ta_03_05_ulkomaalaiset_suomessa.html Ulkomaalaiset Suomessa] ] . There is also a large Somali population in the area of Small Heath, Birmingham which has risen to the nickname of Somali Heath.

* Somali community in Finland
* Somali Britons

United States and Canada

In North America, Toronto, Minneapolis, Columbus, Ohio, Washington, DC, Ottawa, Seattle, Atlanta, and San Diego have the largest Somali populations, although they are scattered throughout the continent in small numbers. [National databases accessed from http://www.migrationinformation.org/GlobalData/]

Between 1992 and 2005, 64,439 persons born in Somalia were admitted to the United States as refugees, which was the vast majority of total emigration from Somalia during that period. Unlike the European figures, however, this statistic does not include US-born children. (Source: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services)Fact|date=February 2007

Middle East

Somalis represent one of the largest immigrant communities in the United Arab Emirates. Somali businesses line the streets of the Dubai city centre, Deira. Internet cafes, hotels, coffee shops, restaurants and import-export businesses are a testimony to the Somalis' entrepreneurial spirit. Star African Air is one of three Somali-owned airlines which have headquarters in Dubai rather than in Somalia. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4535642.stm Somalis cash in on Dubai boom] ]

ee also

*Somali people
*Somaliwood

External links

* [http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Collections/OnlineResources/RWWC/themes/1078/1267 Reassessing what we collect website - Somali London] History of Somali London with objects and images

References