Whereas most recent Somali migrants in the diaspora emigrated as refugees and asylum seekers, many have since obtained either permanent residence or citizenship.

[33] More recently, Somali entrepreneurs have also established themselves in South Africa, where they provide most of the retail trade in informal settlements around the Western Cape province.

[citation needed] According to the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, the number of Somali-speaking people in Finland in 2010 rose by nearly 10% in a year.

[45] Between 2000 and 2005, there was a significant exodus of Somalis from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, unofficially estimated to be as large as 20,000 people.

The exodus was partly the result of anti-Muslim sentiments in the Netherlands in the wake of the rise of and assassination of right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn.

[47] According to a 2018 report using 2015 data, Islam takes a central role in the lives of nearly all Somalis and in many ways their religiosity rose from the 2009 already high levels.

[60] Established Somali communities are found in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff and Bristol, and newer ones have formed in Manchester, Sheffield and Leicester.

[62] The earliest ethnic Somali immigrants to the United States were sailors who arrived in the 1920s, mainly from British Somaliland.

[64] Somalis tend to be concentrated in the southern part of the province of Ontario, especially the Ottawa and Toronto areas.

The Albertan cities of Calgary and Edmonton have also seen a significant increase in their respective Somali communities over the past five years.

In addition, the neighbourhood of Rexdale in the Toronto borough of Etobicoke has one of the largest Somali populations in the country.

[68] During the colonial period, disgruntled Yemenis from the Hadhrami wars sought and received asylum in various Somali towns.

[69] Yemen in turn unconditionally opened its borders to Somali nationals following the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia in the early 1990s.