Canada's refugees: Where they come from by the numbers

Refugees from nearly every country have come to Canada over the years.And often the countries they came from reflect the history of international crises, like Syria and Iraq today or Chile and Bangladesh in the 1970sand Sri Lanka and Haiti more recently.

Over the last 10 years, about 26,000 refugees arrived in Canada annually, according to numbers from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Of that number, an average ofabout 11,000 were refugees who came to Canada and successfully claimed refugee status and4,000 were theirdependants. Seven thousandrefugeesreceivedgovernment assistance toresettlein Canada, and 4,000 were privately sponsored.

In 2014, 23,285 refugees were admitted to Canada,In recent years, refugees have accounted for slightly less than 10 per cent of all immigrants who come to Canada.

• TABLE: Refugee arrivals, Canada, 2005-2014

The federal government recently announcedplans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees (government-assisted or privately sponsored)over the next year, slightly less than the12,310 refugees from all countries who resettled in Canada in 2014.

• Conservative government aims to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by September 2016
• Canada's refugee acceptance falls far short of Stephen Harper's claims

Syrians are also coming to Canada and filing asylum claims, which are almost all approved. That was the case for 678 Syrians in 2014.(Resettledrefugees don't file a claim.)

Colombia No.1 source country

The United Nationsrefugee agency, UNHCR, provides data for the countries where refugees have successfully sought asylum. During the 10 years from 2005 to 2014, about 150,000 refugees and their dependants became permanent residents of Canada, after claiming refugee status.

Refugees from eight countries account for half that total, with Colombia topping the list at 17,381.

Internal conflict has engulfedColombia for the past five decades,says University of British ColumbiaprofessorPilar Riano-Alcala,and civilians have been a major target of the military, the leftist guerillas and the right-wing paramilitaries.

"One of the key strategies of all the armed actors, in terms of the war, isforced displacement of the civilian population," saysRiano, a leading expert on Colombian refugees whodid research for theHistorical Memory Commissionin Colombia.

The UNHCRestimatesthere are 360,000 Colombianrefugees and six million people inside Colombia who have been forcedfrom their homes.

Canada has been a major destination for Colombian refugees, helpedby a Canadian policy, ended in 2011, that allowedColombians to request asylum while still in Colombia,Rianosays.

China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Haiti follow Colombia on the UNHCR list for the start of 2014 .

• FULL LIST: Refugees landed in Canada, plus dependants, 2004-2013

The UNHCRrecognizes people as refugees if they have fled their own countries, have a well-founded fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, social group or politicsand areunable or unwilling to receive protection from their governmentshould they return.

Iraq No. 1 for refugees admitted in 2014

A different list emerges for 2014, looking at all refugees admitted, regardless of category.

Iraq was the top source country, followed by Eritrea, Iran, Congo and Somalia. Syria rankssixth. The top eight countries accounted for half of all the refugees admitted.

• Refugees admitted to Canada, top 25 countries, 2014

Iraq was also the top-ranked country for government-assisted refugees admitted in 2014. Iran, Congo, Somalia and Eritrea also rankin the top five, which account for two-thirdsof all government-assisted refugees admitted.

Eritrea ranks first for privatelysponsored refugees, followed by Syria, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Those five countries account for three-quarters of the privately sponsored refugees admitted to Canada in 2014.

• TABLE: Government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees, Canada, 2014

During the five years from 2010to 2014, more than17,000 Iraqis were resettled to Canada.

Haiti, Colombia,Afghanistan and Somaliaalso rank near the top of the list for refugees admitted during those five years.

CIC data show that Iraqis topped the list for the number of government-assisted refugees admitted each year from 2010 to 2014, except 2012, when they came in second by seven refugees, behind Bhutan. Iraqis also topped the list of the number of privately sponsored refugees admitted 2010-2013.

Mexico ranked first for refugees who had been granted asylum in Canada and then received their landed immigrant (permanent resident) status in 2014. Haiti, Pakistan, China and Nigeria ranked next, perhaps reflecting the time lag between when a refugee gets accepted in Canada and gets landed immigrant status.Haiti ranked first from 2011 to 2013.

China No. 1 for refugee claims accepted by IRB

Refugee claims go to Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. The board can accept or reject a refugee's claim, or the claimant may withdraw or abandon a claim.

During the 10 years from 2005 to 2014, the IRB receivedalmost 100,000 refugee claims, with an overall acceptancerate of 41 per cent for finalized claims.The board rejectedslightly more applicants than it accepted, IRB numbers show.

In 2014, the acceptance rate was 49 per cent, the highest it had been since 1995.

In the first six months of 2015, IRB data provided to CBC News shows the boardaccepted 5,006 claims and rejected 3,091. The acceptance rate increased to56 per cent. The rejection ratewas 35 per cent, down from the 43 per cent over the previous 10 years.

• GRAPH: Refugee claims accepted by the IRB, 1989-2015

Refugees from China had the most claims accepted, followed by Pakistan, Hungary, Iraq and Syria.

94% of Syrian applicants accepted

Looking only at refugee applications from the 42 countries for which the IRB finalized 50 or more cases during the first six months of 2015, Syria had the highest acceptance rate, 94 per cent.

From 2006 to 2011, the acceptance rate for Syrian refugees averaged about 52 per cent. Since 2013, that rate has been more than 90 per cent.

On Sept. 18, the IRB began to review refugee claims by Syrians already in Canada under an expedited process. That means some claims won't require a hearing.

After Syria, the next highest acceptance rates were from Eritrea, Iraq, Libya and Egypt.

North Koreans had no refugee applications accepted by the IRB and 26 rejected. That means they had the lowest acceptance rateamong the 42 countries, with Romania (1.4 per cent), the U.S. (2.8 per cent), Croatia (22.3 per cent), and Guinea (34.5 per cent) following.

The IRB accepted refugee applications from 121 countries in the first six months of 2015.

• Refugee status determinations by the IRB, Jan.-June 2015
• NEXT:Canada's refugee claimants: Where they come from by the numbers