By the numbers: Where refugees to the U.S. come from

The 1990s saw a higher number of refugees from Europe – largely driven by those fleeing political turmoil in the former Soviet Union and the genocide in Kosovo. However, the past decade has marked a near-stop in the flow of European refugees to the U.S. – in 2016 so far, only 5% of U.S. refugees have come from Europe.

In recent years, overall refugee volume is hovering at median levels historically. The number of refugees experienced a dramatic dip following the passing of the Patriot Act in 2001 – fewer than 30,000 refugees were let into the U.S. each year in 2002 and 2003, down 60% from the pre-9/11 level in 2001. But upticks in the number of refugees came in 2004 with a wave of Somali refugees, and in 2008 when thousands of Burmese and Bhutanese were granted refugee status.

More recently, the ongoing conflict in Syria has displaced six-in-ten Syrians, or 12.5 million, from their homes, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of global refugee data. In September 2015, the Obama administration set a goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. over the coming year. To date, just over 2,800 Syrian refugees have settled in the U.S., representing 7% of the refugees entering the country this year.