Muslims comprise most refugees to US

A new study has found that nearly half of all refugees admitted to the U.S. in 2016 are Muslims. Released on Wednesday the study, by the Pew Research Center, found that

A total of 38,901 Muslim refugees entered the U.S. in fiscal year 2016, making up almost half (46%) of the nearly 85,000 refugees who entered the country in that period

It went on to say:

A slightly lower share of 2016’s refugees were Christian (44%) than Muslim, the first time that has happened since fiscal 2006, when a large number of Somali refugees entered the US

Some 12,486 refugees to the US came from Syria and 9,012 from Somalia while 7,853 refugees came from Iraq, 3,145 from Myanmar and 2,664 from Afghanistan.

Yet while the number of refugees in the US has become a campaign issue in the on-going presidential campaign, the total number of refugees in the country pales in comparison with those accepted by some of the world’s poorest countries.

A recent Amnesty international reports shows that more than 50% of the world’s refugees have been absorbed by only 10 countries including Jordan and Turkey which host more than 2.5 million refugees each and Pakistan and Lebanon which host more than 1.5 million each.

According to an Amnesty international spokesperson:

A small number of countries have been left to do far too much just because they are neighbours to a crisis… That situation is inherently unsustainable, exposing the millions fleeing war and persecution in countries like Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq to intolerable misery and suffering

Wealthy nations have shown an absence of leadership, leaving 10 countries to take 56% of global #refugees https://t.co/4hUmR5GOaX #IWelcome pic.twitter.com/XTefGeWybv

— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) October 4, 2016