Eritrea

Immigrants to Eritrea mostly arrive from nearby African nations to escape regional instability or pursue cross-border trade. Geographic proximity and shared cultural ties currently bring a few thousand people from countries like Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda. Historical connections also continue to attract several hundred migrants from neighboring South Sudan and Ethiopia.

The origins of these migrants shifted significantly as regional conflicts erupted and resolved over the decades. In the early 1990s, several thousand Mozambicans and Ethiopians formed the largest immigrant communities before the Eritrean-Ethiopian border war severely disrupted regional movement. As those populations declined, the prolonged civil war in Somalia drove a steady influx of refugees, making Somalis the predominant immigrant group throughout the following decades.

Eritreans primarily cross into neighboring Sudan and Ethiopia to escape indefinite military conscription and severe political repression. Currently, nearly 400,000 Eritreans live in Sudan and over 175,000 in Ethiopia, seeking immediate safety and relying on familiar cross-border cultural ties. Beyond the immediate region, tens of thousands pursue permanent asylum, human rights protections, and economic stability in Western nations like Sweden, Canada, and Switzerland.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, intense border conflicts drove massive waves of refugees almost exclusively into adjacent African nations. As domestic conditions worsened over the following decades, this localized migration transformed into a broader global exodus. Fleeing citizens increasingly navigated dangerous routes to secure asylum in Northern Europe, while emerging regional hubs like Uganda and Egypt rapidly absorbed those unable to reach the West.