| Group: | Somalis in Yemen |
| Population: | 500,000 |
| Regions: | Aden Sana'a Lahj Governorate |
| Langs: | Somali Arabic |
| Rels: | Sunni Islam |
| Related Groups: | Oromo, Afar, Saho, and other Cushitic-speaking peoples |
Somalis in Yemen make up the historical Somali population in Yemen. Around 500,000 Somalis live in Yemen, of which 46,750 are refugees.[1] [2] [3]
Many Somalis and Yemenis can trace back their ancestry to a unspecified homeland.[4] Many Somalis fled to Yemen during the Somali Civil War.[5]
There are around 710,000 Somalis in Yemen, mostly concentrated around Aden.[6] There are also some on Lahij Gvernorate.
Many Somalis in Yemen now speak Arabic instead of their native Somali language due to language shift.[7] But also due to the fact that there are no Somali teachers in the refugee camps or enough budget to allocate funds to teach the Somali language.
Many Somalis have returned back to their homeland deeming its safe enough to return. "The voluntary returns are part of UNHCR’s Assisted Spontaneous Return (ASR) programme". Since 2017 over 6,200 somali refugees have returned home
In 2010, Reuters reported that poverty among Somali refugees in Yemen remains common.[8] Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the World Health Organization reported that migrant groups faced stigmatization as "transmitters of disease" after a Somali refugee was identified as the first case in the country.[9]
Following the outbreak of the Yemeni civil war, some refugees from Yemen have moved to Somalia. In 2022, Anadolu Agency reported that many Yemeni refugees have felt welcomed by Somali society.[10] As of late December 2021 there are 8,341 registered Yemeni refugees and asylum seekers in Somalia