Statistics not available for 2019, however, in 2018, 18,104 asylum applications were made in South Africa4(source).
In 2009, 157,204 asylum applications were lodged. This then fell steadily from 2009 – 2011, rising slightly between 2013-2015. Since 2016, the number of asylum applications have been falling steadily hitting 18,104 in 201 (source).
South Africa had 18,104 applications in 2018 and this is less than some other countries in Africa. For example, in 2018, Kenya had 19,3805 and Uganda had 19,6556 individual new asylum applications respectively. (source).
In 2019, 676 300 asylum seekers applied for international protection in the 27 current Member States of the European Union, up by 11.2 % (source).
As of 2019, 89 588 people hold refugee status in South Africa. (source).
Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazaville, Ethiopia,Burundi and Zimbabwe (source).
Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan (source).
It is not possible to track and give an accurate figure of undocumented people in South Africa, the data currently reports on the number of foreign nationals living in South Africa and they are estimated to be between 3 and 7% of the total population (source).
An Amnesty International report found that poor decision-making, including mistakes of fact and lack of sound reasoning by RSDO’s has resulted in a 96% rejection rate of asylum applications (source).
The Refugee Appeals Authority has a backlog of 147 794 cases.
The Department of Home Affairs did not know how many of the 946 314 inactive section 22 applicants (as at 31 December 2017) were still in the country as the various systems were not integrated (source).
