How many refugees and asylees are admitted into the United States each year?

The United States used to lead in helping resettle displaced individuals, but that changed under President Trump’s administration, which reduced the number of refugees accepted into the country to a record annual low. In fiscal year (FY) 2020 the U.S. resettled approximately 11,800 refugees—a steep drop from 207,000 in 1980, when the program began, and 70,000 to 80,000 in more recent years. President Trump’s administration set the cap at 15,000 resettled persons. See Refugees and Asylees in the United States (MPI).

This year, President Joe Biden has increased the limit for resettlements in FY 2021 to 62,500. The administration also has pledged to further increase that number to 125,000 by FY 2022. But the numbers of displaced individuals worldwide remain at staggering levels. For example, in December 2020, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that the number of those displaced in 2020 could be higher than 80 million. See Number of displaced people globally tops 80 million in 2020: UN.

The table below lists the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. each year, according to official data.

The table below lists the number of asylees admitted into the U.S. each year—affirmatively and defensively—according to official data.