Find out about refugees and asylum seekers

Right now, over 100 million people have been forced to flee their homes according to the UN Refugee Agency. The number of displaced persons exceeded 100 million for the first time in 2022.

This has more than doubled compared to ten years ago and 35 per cent of this group are children.

Most displaced people, 74 per cent, are hosted in low- and middle-income countries. And 69 per cent are in neighbouring countries or places close to the country they have fled.

What's the difference between asylum seekers and refugees?

There’s often confusion around what asylum seekers, refugees and migrants are and the labels used to describe them, which can be unhelpful.

Below, we look at the most common terms used to describe people who leave their countries for different reasons.

What's an asylum seeker?

A person seeking asylum:

• flees their home
• arrives in another country, whichever way they can
• makes themselves known to the authorities
• submits an asylum application
• has a legal right to stay in the country while waiting for a decision

How many asylum seekers are in the UK?

In 2022, the UK received applications for asylum for 89,398 people (including dependants). This is far fewer people applying for asylum in the UK compared to other countries. It's around three times less than the number of applications received by Germany (243,835), and considerably less than France (156,455) and Spain (117,945).

Around 43 per cent of people seeking asylum in the UK in 2020 were women and children. Overall, eight per cent were children who had arrived in the UK alone without a parent or guardian. 

You can find out more in the Home Office national statistics on asylum and on the Refugee Council website.

What's a refugee?

A refugee:

• has proven that they’d be at risk if returned to their home country
• has had their claim for asylum accepted by the government
• has permission to stay in the UK either long term or indefinitely

Refugees have a right under UK and international law to bring their immediate family members to join them.

We help refugees in the UK reunite with their families through our family reunion work. Visit our dedicated page for more information about how to get help as a refugee.

Refused asylum seekers

A refused asylum seeker:

• hasn’t been able to prove that they would face persecution back home
• has been denied protection by the authorities
• must now leave the country – unless they want to appeal the decision or it isn’t safe or practical for them to return home (for example, they have a serious health condition or can’t get the documents they need to travel)

What is a migrant?

A migrant:

• has moved to another country, for example to work, study or join family members
• may be living there temporarily or permanently depending on their situation

You can learn more about displaced people from the UN Refugee Agency.

Family reunion

Refugees have a right under UK and international law to bring their immediate family members to join them. We help refugees in the UK reunite with their families through our family reunion work.

Our family reunion service helps around 900 family members, on average, to reunite with their refugee sponsors each year. Without this, thousands of refugee families would not have safe routes to see their loved ones again.

In 2024, the British Red Cross reunited 288 families - bringing 959 people to the UK, including 702 children, 109 of whom were unaccompanied. We also helped with 7,000 tracing requests.

Our work with refugees and asylum seekers

The British Red Cross has a long tradition of supporting refugees and asylum seekers after they flee trauma and persecution. We are the biggest single provider of this support in the UK and run services across the country.

In 2024, our teams provided vital support to more than 43,600 people, including over 700 unaccompanied children. 

We help in many ways, from giving emergency food and clothing, to giving casework support and friendly advice to those settling into a new, unfamiliar place. We also provide support and guidance for asylum seekers during their asylum application.

Beyond facts and figures about refugees

Hear from people seeking asylum and refugees about their experiences of seeking protection and life in the UK with our migration and displacement stories.