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By Amanda Poole and Jennifer Riggan
Despite Eritrea’s relatively small population, the country is a major origin of refugees. As much as one-third of the Eritrean-born population of around 6 million is estimated to live abroad, with regular outflows from the autocratic country continuing. In 2023 alone, approximately 71,600 Eritreans reportedly applied for asylum in another country, a figure that may correspond to more than 2 percent of the country’s resident population.
This large humanitarian emigration is the result of several decades of war and a government that is considered to be among the most repressive in the world. Eritreans are conscripted into government service for years on end and are generally barred from leaving the country legally. Although migration routes have become increasingly difficult and destination countries more restrictive—particularly amid conflict and securitization in neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan—Eritreans have continued to seek refuge abroad. As of 2024, there were more than 683,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers from Eritrea, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
While most Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers live elsewhere in East Africa, with the largest numbers in Ethiopia (nearly 180,000 as of 2024) or Sudan (150,100), many Eritreans have taken dangerous journeys to Europe, with Germany home to the third largest Eritrean refugee population (71,300). Despite their search for safety, Eritrean refugees have in recent years found themselves caught up in brand-new civil conflicts in the Horn of Africa, and have often had to flee again—or been forced back to their troubled homeland.
This article provides a history of emigration from Eritrea and describes the harsh conditions that people have fled. It outlines the major migrant routes and the challenges that Eritreans have often faced abroad.
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