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Country profile

Sierra Leone

SL · SLE · Sub-Saharan Africa

A consolidated migration profile for Sierra Leone: who arrives, who leaves, how many people are hosted or displaced, and the national context behind those numbers. Every figure below is a reported value from an official source — nothing is estimated or filled in.

CapitalFreetown
RegionSub-Saharan Africa
SubregionSub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
Population8,819,794
Refugees hosted — People protected here
Refugees from here — Fled abroad
Migrants living here 49,997 Foreign-born stock
Net migration -11,309 Net outflow
Asylum-seekers — Awaiting a decision
Reporting year 2025 Most recent data
Latest figures · 2025

Key migration numbers

The headline counts for the most recent reporting year. Refugees hosted are people this country protects; asylum-seekers are still awaiting a decision; applications are new asylum claims lodged during the year.

2025Reporting year
No data available
Refugees hosted
No data available
Asylum-seekers
No data available
Applications (year)
Migration balance

Incoming vs outgoing

Annual estimates

Net migration is arrivals minus departures over the year. Positive means more people moved in than out. Migrant stock is the total foreign-born people living here now.

Net migration (year)-11,309Net outflow
Migrants living here49,997Migrant stock
Missing / dead migrants
No data available
IOM Missing Migrants Project
Historical series

Statistics

Recorded migrant, refugee and asylum populations over time. Each line is one category; gaps mean a year the source did not report a figure (the line bridges the gap rather than dropping to zero).

Population profile

Sex, age, religion & more

How the population breaks down across reported dimensions, grouped by the year each figure was reported (most recent first). Bars show each group’s share of the total; where only headcounts were published, the raw number is shown instead.

Religion

Religious make-up over time

National shares

Share of the population by faith across the recorded years. Each line is a stored national value; nothing is estimated.

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2020
Christian Muslim Jewish Unaffiliated Other

See the full religion timeline for this country →

Places of worship

Places of worship over time

Recorded counts

No places-of-worship counts are recorded for this country yet. See the Places of worship page for the full picture.

See the full places-of-worship timeline for this country → · browse individual places →

Displaced population by age cohort for the most recent reported year. Age is summed across sexes in the source data, so this is a single series per cohort — not a male/female split.

Displaced population by sex over the reported years, stacked so the top line reads as the total.

Sex

Female 48.4%
Male 49.3%
Unknown 2.3%

Age

12-17 15.8%
18-59 79.5%
60+ 2.3%
Country context

National indicators

Economy

GDP (current US$)7,464,157,904.44 USD2025
GDP per capita (current US$)846.30 USD2025
Unemployment (% of labour force)3.15 %2025
Personal remittances received (US$)320,825,634.06 USD2024
Personal remittances received (% of GDP)4.60 %2024

Population

Population, total8,819,794.00 people2025
Population density117.21 people/km22023

Migration

Net migration-11,309.00 people2025
International migrant stock, total49,997.00 people2024
International migrant stock (% of population)0.60 %2024

Asylum decisions

Asylum decisions - recognised5.00 people2014
Asylum decisions - rejected5.00 people2017
Asylum decisions - otherwise closed5.00 people2016
Asylum decisions - total5.00 people2017

Durable solutions

Returned refugees26.00 people2013
Naturalisations21.00 people2022
Returned IDPs200,000.00 people2000

Other

Life expectancy at birth, total (years)61.96 years2024
Primary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group)99.20 %2024
Current health expenditure (% of GDP)4.72 %2023
Gini index35.70 2018
Poverty headcount ratio at $2.15 a day (% of population)41.50 %2018
Context

Migration & quality of life

These charts place migration next to quality-of-life indicators over time. Correlation is not causation — a relationship here does not prove migration caused the change, or that a change caused the migration.

Economy

Gross domestic product

World Bank

GDP (current US$)

$7.46B

Reported 2025

GDP per capita (current US$)

$846

Reported 2025

Migrant stock as a share of the population (left axis, in percent) shown against life expectancy (right axis, in years) over the years.

Each point is one year: migrant share of population (x, in percent) versus life expectancy (y, in years).

Public safety

Recorded crime

Not migrant offending

National crime figures for context only — they describe the whole resident population and are not a measure of migrant offending.

Recorded crime by type
rate / 100k where available
CrimeRate / 100k
Homicide2.22
Public expenditure

Expenses

Migration-related public spending only — Official Development Assistance received and provided (which, for donor countries, includes in-donor refugee costs), in US dollars, stacked so the top line reads as the combined total for each year.

YearAmount (USD)Category
2023$497,800,446ODA received
2022$519,246,399ODA received
2021$711,213,318ODA received
2020$842,418,396ODA received
2019$567,083,679ODA received
2018$508,151,276ODA received
2017$541,119,446ODA received
2016$693,210,266ODA received
2015$946,966,125ODA received
2014$914,030,823ODA received
2013$449,064,392ODA received
2012$439,737,946ODA received
2011$423,892,975ODA received
2010$398,269,989ODA received
2009$447,292,847ODA received
2008$379,340,973ODA received
2007$550,531,982ODA received
2006$380,342,163ODA received
2005$339,980,621ODA received
2004$376,225,647ODA received
2003$337,171,661ODA received
2002$383,211,670ODA received
2001$334,631,653ODA received
2000$180,639,999ODA received
1999$73,733,002ODA received
1998$106,532,997ODA received
1997$118,013,000ODA received
1996$182,520,004ODA received
1995$212,270,004ODA received
1994$273,730,011ODA received
1993$206,470,001ODA received
1992$133,059,998ODA received
1991$103,269,997ODA received
1990$59,320,000ODA received
1989$98,660,004ODA received
1988$101,519,997ODA received
1987$66,010,002ODA received
1986$90,489,998ODA received
1985$63,799,999ODA received
1984$57,910,000ODA received
1983$64,800,003ODA received
1982$81,750,000ODA received
1981$59,599,998ODA received
1980$90,559,998ODA received
1979$52,919,998ODA received
1978$39,310,001ODA received
1977$25,280,001ODA received
1976$13,000,000ODA received
1975$16,629,999ODA received
1974$10,320,000ODA received
1973$14,080,000ODA received
1972$10,200,000ODA received
1971$10,410,000ODA received
1970$6,630,000ODA received
1969$8,810,000ODA received
1968$10,730,000ODA received
1967$7,490,000ODA received
1966$10,220,000ODA received
1965$17,520,000ODA received
1964$10,060,000ODA received
1963$9,790,000ODA received
1962$7,600,000ODA received
1961$14,970,000ODA received
1960$6,720,000ODA received
Sources & notes

Figures are consolidated from the UNHCR Refugee Data Finder and the World Bank / UNODC. Only reported values are shown — blanks mean a source did not publish a figure, never a fabricated estimate. Statistics describe recorded populations and movements and should not be read as causal relationships.