- published: 10 Oct 2014
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The Somali diaspora refers to expatriate Somalis who reside in areas of the world that have traditionally not been inhabited by their ethnic group. The civil war in Somalia greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many Somalis moved from Greater Somalia mainly to the Middle East, Europe and North America.
While the distribution of Somalis per country in Europe is difficult to measure since the Somali expatriate community on the continent has grown so quickly in recent years, there are significant Somali communities in the United Kingdom: 190,000;Sweden: 57,752 (2011); the Netherlands: 52,432 (2014);Norway: 60,651 (2014);Denmark: 18,645 (2014); and Finland: 16,721 (2014).
Although most Somalis in the United Kingdom are recent arrivals, the first Somalis to arrive were seamen and traders who settled in port cities in the late 19th century. By 2001, the UK census reported 43,532 Somali-born residents, making the Somali community in Britain the largest Somali expatriate population in Europe. An official 2010 estimate indicates that 108,000 Somalis live in the UK, with Somali community organisations putting the figure at 90,000 residents.