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Somali people

This article is about the Somali ethnic group. For the general population of the Federal Republic of Somalia, see Demographics of Somalia. For other uses, see Somali (disambiguation).

Somali people
Soomaalida
صومالِدَ
الصوماليون
Traditional area inhabited by the Somali ethnic group
Total population
26.8 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
Horn of Africa
Somalia[a]18,143,378 (2023)[2][3][improper synthesis?]
Ethiopia4,581,793 (2007)[4]
Kenya2,780,502 (2019)[5]
Djibouti586,000 (2019)[6]
Yemen500,000 (2014)[7]
United Kingdom176,645 (2021)[8]
United States169,799 (2023)[9]
Libya112,000 (2020)[10]
United Arab Emirates101,000[11]
Sweden68,290[12]
Tanzania66,000[citation needed]
Canada65,550[13]
Germany60,295[14]
Uganda51,536[15]
Saudi Arabia45,710[16]
Norway43,196[17]
Netherlands41,064[18]
South Africa27,000–40,000[19]
Finland24,647[20]
Egypt21,000[10]–200,000[21]
Australia18,401[22]
Denmark11,041[23]
Italy9,349[24]
 Switzerland8,625[25]
France8,000[10]
Austria7,101[26]
Turkey5,518[27]
Other countries
Zambia3,000–4,000[28][29]
Malaysia3,000[10]
Belgium2,627[30]
Eritrea2,604[31]
Pakistan2,500[32]
Ireland2,150[33]
New Zealand1,617[34]
Indonesia1,170[35]
Brazil517[36][37]
Languages
Somali
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Afar • Saho • Oromo • Rendille • Cushites[38]
A Somali man in a traditional Koofiyad

The Somali people (Somali: Soomaalida, Wadaad: صومالِدَ‎, Arabic: الصوماليون) are a Cushitic ethnic group and nation who are native to the Somali Peninsula, and share a common ancestry, culture and history.[39][40][41]

XIX century map showing the Somali territories prior to the Scramble for Africa as fully integrated with the Adal region

The East Cushitic Somali language is the shared mother tongue of ethnic Somalis, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are predominantly Sunni Muslim.[42][43] Forming one of the largest ethnic groups on the continent, they cover one of the most expansive landmasses by a single ethnic group in Africa.[44]

According to most scholars, the ancient Land of Punt and its native inhabitants formed part of the ethnogenesis of the Somali people. This ancient historical kingdom is where a great portion of their cultural traditions and ancestry are said to derive from.[45][46][47][48] Somalis and their country have long been identified with the term Barbar (or Al-Barbar)—12th-century geographer al-Idrisi, for example, identified the Somali Peninsula as Barbara,[49] and classical sources from the Greeks and Romans similarly refer to the region as the second Barbaria.[50]

Somalis share many historical and cultural traits with other Cushitic peoples, especially with Lowland East Cushitic people, specifically the Afar and the Saho.[51] Ethnic Somalis are principally concentrated in Somalia (around 17.6 million),[52] Somaliland (5.7 million),[53] Ethiopia (4.6 million),[4] Kenya (2.8 million),[5] and Djibouti (586,000).[6] Somali diasporas are also found in parts of the Middle East, North America, Western Europe, African Great Lakes region, Southern Africa and Oceania.

  1. ^ "Somali, worldwide distribution". Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  2. ^ "World Bank Open Data". Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  3. ^ Lewis, I. M. (1998). Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar, and Saho. Red Sea Press. ISBN 978-1-56902-104-0.
  4. ^ a b "Table 2.2 Percentage distribution of major ethnic groups: 2007" (PDF). Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census Results. Population Census Commission. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b "2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Volume IV: Distribution of Population by Socio-Economic Characteristics". Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. December 2019. p. 423. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Djibouti". Ethnologue. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  7. ^ Gramer, Robbie (17 March 2017). "Apache Helicopter Guns Down Boat Full of Somali Refugees Fleeing Yemen". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Somali Population of England and Wales 2021". 2021 Statistics for Ethnicity in England and Wales. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  9. ^ "American Community Survey – 1-Year Estimates – Table B04006". data.census.gov. U.S. Census Bureau.
  10. ^ a b c d "Immigrant and Emigrant Populations by Country of Origin and Destination". migrationpolicy.org. 10 February 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  11. ^ "Ethnologue United Arab Emirates". Ethnologue. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  12. ^ "Statistics Sweden – Foreign-born and born in Sweden".
  13. ^ "Census Profile, 2021 Census – Ethnic or Cultural Background – Canada [ Country]". 8 July 2024.
  14. ^ "Anzahl der Ausländer in Deutschland nach Herkunftsland". Statista.
  15. ^ "Refugees in Uganda by country of origin 2024". Statista. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Sub-Saharan-African Population by country of citizenship in Saudi Arabia 2022 Census". Gulf Labour Markets and Migration. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents".
  18. ^ "Population; sex, age, origin and generation, 1 January". CBS StatLine. Statistics Netherlands.
  19. ^ Jinnah, Zaheera. "Making Home in a Hostile Land: Understanding Somali Identity, Integration, Livelihood and Risks in Johannesburg" (PDF). J Sociology Soc Anth, 1 (1–2): 91–99 (2010). KRE Publishers. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  20. ^ "Statistics Finland". stat.fi.
  21. ^ The UN Migration agency. "Migration Stock in Egypt 2022" (PDF). International Organization for Migration (IOM). Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  22. ^ "Table 5. Ancestry by State and Territory of Usual Residence, Count of persons – 2016(a)(b)". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  23. ^ "StatBank Denmark". statbank.dk.
  24. ^ "Statistiche demografiche ISTAT". Tuttitalia Cittadini stranieri al 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  25. ^ "Federal Statistical Office". Archived from the original on 17 April 2017.
  26. ^ "Bevölkerung zu Jahresbeginn 2002–2021 nach detaillierter Staatsangehörigke". Statistik Austria. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  27. ^ UNHCR (1 August 2018). "Turkey Fact Sheet". unhcr.org.
  28. ^ "Somalis in Zambia seek better leadership". www.hiiraan.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  29. ^ "Zambia : Somali Community in Zambia donate 35 trucks for garbage collection". LusakaTimes.com. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  30. ^ Hertogen, J. "Inwoners van vreemde afkomst in België".
  31. ^ UNHCR (1 August 2018). "Eritrea Fact Sheet". Unhcr.
  32. ^ Fakhr, Alhan (15 July 2012). "Insecure once again". Daily Jang. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  33. ^ "Population Census of Ireland 2022 Results-Migration and Diversity". Ireland Census Bureau of Statistics. 30 May 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  34. ^ "Ethnic group profiles". stats.govt.nz.
  35. ^ "Refugees and Asylum-seekers in Indonesia by country of Origin 2023". UNHCR Indonesia. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  36. ^ Immigrants in Brazil (2024, in Portuguese)
  37. ^ "Refúgio em números 2025 (em formato PDF) - Tabela 2.2.1. Número de solicitantes de reconhecimento da condição de refugiado, segundo principais países de nacionalidade ou residência habitual, Brasil – 2024" (in Portuguese).
  38. ^ Joireman, Sandra F. (1997). Institutional Change in the Horn of Africa: The Allocation of Property Rights and Implications for Development. Universal-Publishers. p. 1. ISBN 978-1581120004.
  39. ^ Cassanelli, Lee V. (2016). The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900. The Ethnohistory Series. Philadelphia, Pa: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8122-7832-3.
  40. ^ Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. 6 April 2010. ISBN 978-0-08-087775-4. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  41. ^ "Somalia". World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 14 May 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
  42. ^ "Somali-people". Britannica. 23 September 2023.
  43. ^ Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Press: 2001), p.1
  44. ^ The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy by A.M. Issa-Salwe (Page 1)
  45. ^ Egypt: 3000 Years of Civilization Brought to Life By Christine El Mahdy
  46. ^ Ancient perspectives on Egypt By Roger Matthews, Cornelia Roemer, University College, London.
  47. ^ Africa's legacies of urbanization: unfolding saga of a continent By Stefan Goodwin
  48. ^ Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature By Felipe Armesto Fernandez
  49. ^ Marina Tolmacheva, "Long-Distance Arab Sailing in the Indian Ocean before the Portuguese," in Early Maritime Cultures in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean: Papers from a Conference Held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (African Studies Program) 23–24 October 2015, with Additional Contributions, ed. Akshay Sarathi, p. 216, available at https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/download/9781784917128.
  50. ^ Lionel Casson (ed.), The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 45.
  51. ^ Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho by I. M. Lewis
  52. ^ "Population, total - Somalia". World Bank. 2022.
  53. ^ "Republic of Somaliland – Country Profile 2021" (PDF). March 2021.


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