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((Short description|Ethnic group))
((Use British English|date=June 2015))
((Use dmy dates|date=January 2020))
((Infobox ethnic group
|group = Somalis in the United Kingdom
|population = '''Somali-born residents''' <br/> 108,000 (2018 ONS estimate)<ref name="ONS2018"/>
|popplace = [[London]]((·))[[Liverpool]]((·))[[Cardiff]]((·))[[Birmingham]]((·))[[Bristol]]((·))[[Manchester]]((·))[[Sheffield]]((·))[[Leicester]] 
|langs = Majority: [[Somali language|Somali]] and [[British English|English]]<br />
Minority: [[Arabic]] and [[Bravanese dialect|Chimwiini]]
|rels = Predominantly [[Islam]] ([[Sunni]] and [[Sufism]])
| related          = [[Ethiopians in the United Kingdom|British Ethiopians]], [[Eritreans in the United Kingdom|British Eritreans]] and [[Sudanese in the United Kingdom|British Sudanese]]
))

'''Somalis in the United Kingdom''' include [[British nationality law|British citizens]] and residents born in or with ancestors from [[Somalia]]. The [[United Kingdom]] (UK) is home to the largest [[Somali people|Somali]] community in [[Europe]], with an estimated 108,000 Somali-born [[Immigration|immigrants]] residing in the UK in 2018 according to the [[Office for National Statistics]]. The majority of these live in [[England]], with the largest number found in London. Smaller Somali communities exist in [[Birmingham]], [[Bristol]], [[Manchester]], [[Liverpool]], [[Leicester]], [[Milton Keynes]], [[Sheffield]] and [[Cardiff]].

The earliest Somali immigrants in the UK were [[lascars]] and merchants who arrived in the 19th century. A second small group of seamen came during the [[World War II|Second World War]] with the [[Royal Navy]] from the [[British Somaliland]] (present-day [[Somaliland]]). During the 1980s and 1990s, the [[Somali Civil War|civil war]] in Somalia led to a large number of Somali immigrants, comprising the majority of the current Somali population in the UK.

British Somalis are one of the largest [[Islam in the United Kingdom|Muslim communities in the UK]].

Notable British Somalis include notable sports figures, filmmakers, activists and local politicians. They have also established business networks and media organisations.

==History and settlement==
[[File:Somali Crewmen on HMS Venus.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Somali people|Somali]] crewmen on ((HMS|Venus|1895|6))]]
The Somali community in the UK includes [[British citizens]], [[refugee]]s, [[asylum seeker]]s, persons granted exceptional leave to remain, [[Irregular migration|irregular migrants]], and Somalis who have moved to Britain after being granted refugee status in other European states.<ref>((cite journal|title=Super-diversity and its implications|first=Steven|last=Vertovec|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=30|issue=6|pages=1024–1054|year=2007|doi=10.1080/01419870701599465|s2cid=143674657))</ref><ref>((cite book|title=Migrants and Their Money: Surviving Financial Exclusion in London|first=Kavita|last=Datta|publisher=Policy Press|location=Bristol|year=2012|isbn=9781847428431|page=73))</ref><ref name=AspinallChinouya>((cite journal|title=Is the standardised term 'Black African' useful in demographic and health research in the United Kingdom?|first1=Peter John|last1=Aspinall|first2=Martha|last2=Chinouya|journal=Ethnicity & Health|volume=13|issue=3|pages=183–202|year=2008|doi=10.1080/13557850701837294|pmid=18568972|s2cid=35363033))</ref> Most Somalia-born residents in England and Wales hold a UK passport.<ref name="Dcbnaftcew"/>

According to the 2011 Census, 36 per cent of Somali-born residents of England and Wales arrived in the UK during the 1990s.<ref name="Ipnubpewte">((cite web|title=Immigration Patterns of Non-UK Born Populations in England and Wales in 2011|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_346219.pdf|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=17 December 2013|access-date=21 May 2015))</ref> The majority (57 per cent) arrived after 2001, with around 25 per cent arriving between 2001 and 2003.((sfn|Office for National Statistics|2014|p=10))

===Early migration===
The United Kingdom has historically been tied closely to [[Somaliland]] through its involvement in the [[British Somaliland]] [[British protectorate|protectorate]]. This link has given rise to a long tradition of [[Somali people|Somali]] migration to the United Kingdom.<ref name=Identities /> Mobility has played an important part in Somali culture.<ref name=Identities />((sfn|Kleist|2004|p=5)) The first Somali immigrants were [[Sailor|seamen]] and [[merchant]]s who settled in port cities in the late 19th century, mainly in [[Cardiff]], [[Liverpool]] and [[London]].<ref name=Identities>((cite web | url=http://www.identities.group.sheffield.ac.uk/pdfs/Briefing%20Somali%20Migration%20to%20the%20UK.pdf | publisher=[[The University of Sheffield]] | title=Post-Conflict Identities: Practices and Affiliations of Somali Refugee Children – Briefing Notes | date=August 2005 | access-date=6 August 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308182913/http://www.identities.group.sheffield.ac.uk/pdfs/Briefing%20Somali%20Migration%20to%20the%20UK.pdf | archive-date=8 March 2012 | df=dmy-all ))</ref>((sfn|Harris|2004|p=22))<ref name=Mohamed>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/hanging_of_british_somali_mahmood_mattan|title='Killed by injustice': The hanging of a British Somali|first=Safia|last=Mohamed|publisher=BBC Stories|date=28 January 2019|access-date=27 January 2019))</ref> Many of these early sailors came from British Somaliland and worked in the thriving docks. In Cardiff, many lived in boarding houses run by other Somalis.<ref name="BriAra">((cite web|title=The British Arab|first=Anthony|last=McRoy|publisher=National Association of British Arabs|access-date=9 August 2010|url=http://www.naba.org.uk/CONTENT/articles/Diaspora/british_arabs.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103180941/http://www.naba.org.uk/Content/articles/Diaspora/british_arabs.htm|archive-date=3 January 2015|url-status=dead))</ref><ref name="IESEWSC">((cite web|title=Immigration and emigration: South East Wales – Somali community|publisher=BBC|date=February 2004|access-date=11 August 2010|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/wales/w_se/article_2.shtml))</ref> Along with Yemeni seamen, these Somali sailors were among the [[lascar]]s from the Arab world that were working in the British shipping industry.<ref>((cite book|last=Halliday|first=Fred|title=Britain's First Muslims: Portrait of an Arab Community|date=2010|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=978-1848852990|page=51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0EQmAQAAMAAJ|access-date=30 December 2015))</ref> Following [[List of ethnic riots|race riots]] in Cardiff and other cities in 1919, around 600 of the Somali, Egyptian and other residents from the Arab world were evacuated to their home countries.<ref name="Goodwin">((cite book|last1=Goodwin|first1=Stefan|title=Africa in Europe: Interdependencies, relocations, and globalization|date=2009|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0739127650|page=202|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=atEVAQAAIAAJ|access-date=26 February 2016))</ref> Similar disturbances occurred in [[City of Salford|Salford]] in 1921 and [[South Shields]] in 1930.<ref>((cite book|title=New African Diasporas|url=https://archive.org/details/newafricandiaspo00kose|url-access=limited|editor-first=Khalid|editor-last=Koser|year=2003|chapter=A Refugee Diaspora: When the Somali Goes West|first=Marc-Antoine|last=Pérouse de Montclos|publisher=Routledge|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newafricandiaspo00kose/page/n57 37]–55|isbn=978-0-415-30949-3))</ref> Somalis are recorded as living in London back to 1914, having been recruited to fight in the [[World War I|First World War]].((sfn|Khan and Jones|2002|p=6))

A second, small group came during the [[World War II|Second World War]] with the [[Royal Navy]] and stayed in search of employment.((sfn|Communities and Local Government|2009|p=24)) They had been recruited as seafarers from parts of the [[British Empire]] due to shortages in manpower.<ref name="Lane">((cite book|last=Lane|first=Tony|title=Liverpool: City of the Sea|date=1997|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=0853237808|pages=91–92|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFboSn-r7N0C&pg=PA91))</ref> Most of these seamen considered their stay in the UK as temporary and had left their families behind.<ref name=Identities />((sfn|Harris|2004|pp=22–23)) As a result of an act of Parliament passed in 1894,<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.109/chapterId/2320/The-Somali-Community-in-the-Port-of-London.html|title=The Somali Community in the Port of London|publisher=Royal Museums Greenwich|access-date=22 June 2015))</ref> until the 1950s, Somali migrants were legally restricted to working in the shipping industry, were paid at rates of 25% below the standard workforce rate, and legally required to settle only in towns and cities that were centres of shipping.<ref>((Cite book|first=Nuruddin|last=Farah|author-link=Nuruddin Farah|year=2000|title=Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora|location=London|publisher=Continuum|page=[https://archive.org/details/yesterdaytomorro0000fara/page/99 99]|isbn=0-304-70702-3|url=https://archive.org/details/yesterdaytomorro0000fara/page/99))</ref> They were mainly concentrated in Cardiff and South Shields, which in 1938 had 116 and 47 Somalian-born sailors, respectively. Consequently, the resident Arabic-speaking populations were typically known as "Somali" since most of the seamen in these ports came from the regions near the Gulf of Aden.<ref name="Lane"/> In 1953, there were around 600 Somalis living in the UK.<ref name=Identities/> When the British [[merchant navy]] started to reduce in size in the 1950s, many of these migrants moved to industrial cities such as [[Birmingham]], [[Sheffield]] and [[Manchester]], where labour was in great demand.<ref name=Identities/><ref name=Valentine>((Cite journal|title=Identities and belonging: A study of Somali refugee and asylum seekers living in the UK and Denmark|first1=Gill|last1=Valentine|first2=Deborah|last2=Sporton|first3=Katrine Bang|last3=Nielsen|journal=[[Environment and Planning|Environment and Planning D: Society and Space]]|year=2009|volume=27|issue=2|pages=234–250|doi=10.1068/d3407|s2cid=144802990))</ref> The first Somalis to arrive in Sheffield did so in the 1930s. More arrived between the 1940s and 1960s, particularly to work in the city's steel industry.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/dms/scc/management/corporate-communications/documents/leisure-culture/libraries-copyright/archives/research-guides/somali-community/Somali-Community-Study-Guide-v1-1--PDF--175-KB-.pdf |title=Sources for the Study of Sheffield's Somali Community |publisher=Sheffield Libraries Archives and Information |date=April 2011 |access-date=22 June 2015 |page=4 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622204210/https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/dms/scc/management/corporate-communications/documents/leisure-culture/libraries-copyright/archives/research-guides/somali-community/Somali-Community-Study-Guide-v1-1--PDF--175-KB-.pdf |archive-date=22 June 2015 ))</ref> Somalis also worked in the steel industry in South Wales, taking on physically demanding work that did not appeal to the Welsh workers.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.makinghistories.org.uk/uploads/Cardiff%20Migration%20Stories%20210x210%2020pp%20v3.pdf|title=Cardiff Migration Stories|publisher=Runnymede Trust|date=November 2012|pages=4–5|access-date=22 June 2015))</ref> In 1952, a Somali man was one of the last people to be hanged in Wales, for the murder of a shopkeeper and moneylender in [[Butetown]], Cardiff. His conviction was quashed in 1998.<ref name=Mohamed/>

By the 1960s, there were still only a few Somali women in the United Kingdom.((sfn|Harris|2004|p=22)) After the British industry started to experience heavy growth, Somali men brought over their wives and families.<ref name=Identities/>((sfn|Harris|2004|p=23)) Somali women subsequently began establishing community organisations in the cities where they resided, some of which still exist to this day.<ref name=Identities/> In the 1960s and 1970s, Somali students from British Somaliland also came to study in Britain. Some chose to remain in the United Kingdom, while others returned to Somalia after graduating.<ref name=Identities/> Some long-settled Somalis also returned to Somalia in the 1960s, following the country's independence, though many subsequently moved back to Britain as a result of growing instability during the 1980s.((sfn|Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees|2007|p=2))

In 1983, when the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] requisitioned civilian ships for the [[Falklands War]], three British-registered sailors of Somali origin were denied employment on the basis of their race.  The industry had been outside of the remit of the [[Race Relations Act 1976|1976 Race Relations Act]], and discrimination within the industry was significant. In 1983, 90% of Somali seamen living in Cardiff were unemployed. This was upheld as unlawful by an industrial tribunal and an appeal court, and the case contributed to considerable focus in the media on the issue of discrimination in the shipping industry.<ref>((cite journal|title=Guestworkers of the sea: racism in British shipping|first1=Paul|last1=Gordon|first2=Danny|last2=Reilly|journal=Race & Class|year=1986|volume=28|issue=2|pages=73–82|doi=10.1177/030639688602800205|s2cid=144770395))</ref>

===Refugees and asylum seekers===
((see also|Somali diaspora))
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Principal asylum applications by Somali nationals, excluding dependants, United Kingdom, 1999–2013<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/hosb1409supp.xls|title=Control of Immigration Statistics: United Kingdom 2008 – Supplementary tables|publisher=[[Home Office]]|date=August 2009|access-date=24 August 2010|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/hosb1409supp.xls| archive-date=18 February 2011))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/377162/asylum1-q3-2014-tabs.ods|title=Table as 01: Asylum applications and initial decisions for main applicants, by country of nationality|publisher=Home Office|date=27 November 2014|access-date=2 February 2015))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/758192/asylum1-sep-2018-tables.ods|title=Table as_01: Asylum applications and initial decisions for main applicants, by country of nationality|publisher=Home Office|date=29 November 2018|access-date=10 March 2019))</ref><ref group="nb">Figures are rounded to the nearest five.</ref>
|-
! 
! 
! colspan="3" style="width:300px;"| Initial decisions<ref group="nb">Note that a decision is not necessarily made in the same year as the application it relates to, so decisions do not sum to the number of applications.</ref>
! Final decisions
|-
! scope="col" style="width:50px;"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:100px;"| Applications received
! scope="col" style="width:100px;"| Granted asylum
! scope="col" style="width:100px;"| Granted temporary protection<ref group="nb">Exceptional leave, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave.</ref>
! scope="col" style="width:100px;"| Applications rejected
! scope="col" style="width:100px;"| Applications rejected<ref name="Pmfrim">((cite web|last1=Hannah Toms, Katharine Thorpe|title=Practical Measures For Reducing Irregular Migration|url=http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/networks/european_migration_network/reports/docs/emn-studies/irregular-migration/uk_20120402_practicalmeasuresforreducingirregularmigration_final_en.pdf|publisher=Home Office|access-date=24 May 2015))</ref>
|-
| 1999 || 7,495 || 130 || 55 || 120 ||
|-
| 2000 || 5,020 || 5,310|| 3,575 || 2,365 ||
|-
| 2001 || 6,420 || 2,910 || 1,995 || 3,525 ||
|-
| 2002 || 6,540 || 2,515 || 1,405 || 2,815 ||
|-
| 2003 || 5,090 || 1,665 || 550 || 3,835 ||
|-
| 2004 || 2,585 || 455 || 460 || 2,355 ||
|-
| 2005 || 1,760 || 660 || 195 || 1,000 ||
|-
| 2006 || 1,845 || 655 || 165 || 905 ||
|-
| 2007 || 1,615 || 805 || 105 || 700 ||
|-
| 2008|| 1,345 || 490 || 75 || 550 || 245
|-
| 2009|| 930 || 410 || 75 || 565 || 220
|-
| 2010|| 590 || 350 || 80 || 410 || 270
|-
| 2011|| 580 || 355 || 55 || 175 ||
|-
| 2012|| 600 || 310 || 30 || 140 ||
|-
| 2013|| 450 || 230 || 10 || 160 ||
|-
| 2014|| 335 || 135 || 10 || 180 ||
|-
| 2015|| 385 || 175 || 15 || 270 ||
|-
| 2016|| 350 || 75 || 20 || 160 ||
|-
| 2017|| 300 || 120 || 5 || 165 ||
|}

During the 1980s and 1990s, the [[Somali Civil War|civil war]] in Somalia lead to a large number of Somali [[immigrants]], comprising the majority of the current Somali population in the UK.<ref name=Identities />((sfn|Harris|2004|p=23))((sfn|International Organization for Migration|2006|p=5)) Between 1988 and 1994, the favoured destination of people fleeing the civil war was [[Scandinavia]], but by 1999 53 per cent of Somali asylum applications in Europe were made in the UK.<ref name=Griffiths>((cite web|url=http://www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo016/fmo016.pdf|title=FMO Country Guide: Somalia|first=David|last=Griffiths|publisher=Forced Migration Online|location=Oxford|page=23|date=July 2003|access-date=24 August 2010))</ref> Many of these [[asylum seeker]]s had fled from neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia before migrating to the UK.<ref name=Identities />((sfn|Communities and Local Government|2009|p=24)) Many of these [[refugees]] were women and children whose men had either been killed or had stayed in Somalia to fight, changing the Somali settlement from one of single seamen to that of refugee communities.((sfn|Harris|2004|p=23)) Between 1985 and 2006, Somalis figured among the top ten largest country of origin groups of people seeking [[Right of asylum|asylum]] in the UK.<ref name="Dissanayake">((cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7747162.stm | title=British Somalis play politics from afar | last=Dissanayake | first=Samanthi | date=4 December 2008 | publisher=BBC News | access-date=30 June 2010))</ref> In the late 1980s, most of these early migrants were granted refugee status, while those arriving later in the 1990s more often obtained temporary status.<ref name=Identities/>

Some Somali refugees have also been [[Third country resettlement|resettled]] in the UK under the government's [[Gateway Protection Programme]], which was launched in 2004. Under this scheme, refugees designated as particularly vulnerable by the [[UNHCR]] are assessed for eligibility under the [[Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees|1951 Refugee Convention]] by the [[Home Office]]. If they meet the eligibility criteria they are then brought to the UK and granted [[indefinite leave to remain]].<ref name="Evans">((cite journal|last1=Evans|first1=Olga|last2=Murray|first2=Rosemary|date=February 2009|title=The Gateway Protection Programme: An evaluation|journal=Home Office Research Report|volume=12|url=http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/horr12c.pdf|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130128103514/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/horr12c.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 January 2013|access-date=7 June 2015))</ref><ref name="Guide">((cite web|url=http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0002/5053/Gateway_good_practice_guide_sept_2008.pdf|title=Gateway Protection Programme: Good Practice Guide|year=2008|publisher=Refugee Council and Refugee Action|page=8|access-date=7 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402130737/http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0002/5053/Gateway_good_practice_guide_sept_2008.pdf|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=dead))</ref> The first Somali refugees to be resettled arrived in 2010, and between 2010 and 2012, a total of 418 Somalis were resettled in the UK.<ref name=Sim>((cite web|url=http://uwsoxfampartnership.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Motherwell-Refugee-Report-FINAL.pdf|title=The Long Term Integration of Gateway Protection Programme Refugees in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire|first1=Duncan|last1=Sim|first2=Kait|last2=Laughlin|work=UWS-Oxfam Partnership, Collaborative Research Reports Series|number=1|publisher=University of the West of Scotland-Oxfam Partnership|date=October 2014|page=8|access-date=3 March 2015))</ref> Further numbers of Somalis were resettled under the programme in 2013.<ref>((cite hansard|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/140326w0001.htm#wa_st_67|title=United Nations Gateway Protection Programme|house=[[House of Lords of the United Kingdom|House of Lords]]|date=26 March 2014|column=WA126))</ref>

People whose asylum applications have been rejected but who remain in the UK constitute one of a number of categories of [[irregular immigration|irregular immigrants]].<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/downloads/policy_reports/irregularmigrants_fullbooklet.pdf|title=Irregular Migrants: the urgent need for a new approach|publisher=Migrants' Rights Network|page=4|date=May 2009|access-date=7 June 2015))</ref>((sfn|Toms and Thorpe|2012|p=8)) In 2010, 270 Somalis had their asylum claims rejected in final decisions.((sfn|Toms and Thorpe|2012|p=63)) The British government has a declared policy of not deporting failed asylum seekers to Somalia as it considers it too dangerous for return,<ref name=Brown>((cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/judge-prevents-theresa-may-sending-asylumseeker-back-to-lawless-somalia-9475274.html|title=Judge prevents Theresa May sending asylum-seeker back to lawless Somalia|work=The Independent|first=Jonathan|last=Brown|date=3 June 2014|access-date=12 May 2015))</ref> although it has forcibly returned people to regions of the country that are more stable and accessible by air, such as [[Somaliland]].<ref name=Hooper>((cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/somalis-fear-death-sentence-deportations-2014320105055706973.html|title=Somalis fear 'death-sentence' deportations|first=Simon|last=Hooper|publisher=Al Jazeera|date=22 March 2014|access-date=12 May 2015))</ref><ref name=JCHR>((cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200607/jtselect/jtrights/81/81i.pdf|title=The Treatment of Asylum Seekers: Tenth Report of Session 2006–07|publisher=House of Lords House of Commons Joint Committee on Human Rights|page=82|date=22 March 2007|access-date=12 May 2015))</ref> In April 2014 the Home Office issued new advice to its case workers, suggesting that it is now safe to return people to the capital, [[Mogadishu]].<ref name=Brown/> In a [[test case]] in June 2014, a judge granted an injunction to halt that deportation of a Somali man to Mogadishu. Some Somalis had been returned to Mogadishu prior to the issuance of new guidance, and the returns were subject to criticism from members of the Somali community as well as human rights groups and organisations.<ref name=Hooper/> Of those Somalis whose asylum claims have been declined or whose temporary status had expired, some have voluntarily repatriated.<ref name=JCHR/> Many others have been subject to indefinite detention in [[Immigration detention|immigration detention centres]].<ref name="Cosgmsos">((cite web|title=Briefing: Indefinite detention and deportation to Somalia|url=http://detentionaction.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Somalia-briefing-190913.212.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220172033/https://detentionaction.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Somalia-briefing-190913.212.pdf|archive-date=2015-02-20|publisher=Detention Action|access-date=2020-10-18|year=2013))</ref>

===Secondary migration===
There has also been some secondary migration of Somalis to the UK from the [[Netherlands]], [[Sweden]] and [[Denmark]].((sfn|Kleist|2004|p=11))<ref name=Liempt>((Cite journal|title='And then one day they all moved to Leicester': The relocation of Somalis from the Netherlands to the UK explained|last=van Liempt|first=Ilse|journal=Population, Space and Place|doi=10.1002/psp.605|volume=17|issue=3|pages=254–266|year=100))</ref> According to refugee expert Jill Rutter, in some locations, secondary migrants make up the majority of the Somali community.((sfn|Rutter|2015|p=147)) An academic article published in 2011 suggests that, since 2000, between 10,000 and 20,000 [[Somalis in the Netherlands]] have moved to the UK.<ref name=Liempt/> The driving forces behind this secondary migration included: a desire to reunite with family and friends;<ref name=Identities/>((sfn|Harris|2004|p=24)) a rise in Dutch opposition to [[Islam in the Netherlands#Immigration|Muslim immigration]]; Somali opposition to housing policies which forced them to live scattered in small groups all over various cities rather than in a larger agglomerated community;<ref name="Ambrose">((Cite news|url=http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050105-094454-3064r.htm|date=5 January 2005|access-date=30 June 2010|work=[[The Washington Times]]|first=Ambrose|last=Evans-Pritchard|title=Somalis Exiting Netherlands for Britain))</ref> a restrictive socio-economic environment which, among other things, made it difficult for new arrivals to find work;<ref>((cite web|last1=Van den Reek|first1=E. A. W.|first2=A. I.|last2=Hussein|date=1 September 2003|title=Somaliërs op Doorreis, Verhuisgedrag van Nederlandse Somaliërs naar Engeland|publisher=[[Tilburg University]]|access-date=1 July 2010|url=http://integratie.net/kiem/dossiers/Wonen/Huisvesting/3492_1013.html|language=nl))</ref> and the comparative ease of starting a business and acquiring the means to get off social welfare in the UK.<ref name="Ambrose"/> Research into this relocation also suggests that some Somali migrants in the Netherlands did not intend to end up there as a final destination. Their journeys may have been interrupted in the Netherlands, or they may have had little choice about their destination. As a result, some secondary migration can be seen in the context of the desire to complete an intended migration to the UK.<ref name=Liempt/>

===Naturalisation and grants of settlement===
[[File:Grants of British citizenship to Somali nationals.png|thumb|right|Grants of British citizenship to Somali nationals, 1990–2018]]
Between 1983 and 1994, the number of Somalis granted [[British citizenship]] was generally low, ranging from 40 in 1987 to 140 in 1994. In 1995 the number of grants of citizenship started to rise significantly, reaching a peak of 11,165 in 2004, before falling somewhat in the following years.<ref>((cite web|url=http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/hosb0910tabs.xls|title=British Citizenship Statistics: United Kingdom, 2009– Supplementary tables|publisher=[[Home Office]]|date=27 May 2010|access-date=24 August 2010|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100813113344/http%3A//rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/hosb0910tabs.xls|archive-date=13 August 2010|url-status=dead))</ref> In 2018, 2,746 Somali nationals were granted British citizenship, accounting for around 1.75 per cent of all [[naturalisation]]s and making Somali the 18th most common nationality amongst those granted citizenship that year.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/781112/citizenship-dec-2018-tables.ods|title=Table cz_06: Citizenship grants by previous country of nationality|publisher=[[Home Office]]|date=28 February 2019|access-date=10 March 2019))</ref>

According to the 2011 UK Census, 71.5 per cent of Somalia-born residents in England and Wales hold a UK passport. This is the sixth highest proportion amongst foreign-born groups.<ref name="Dcbnaftcew">((cite web|title=Detailed country of birth and nationality analysis from the 2011 Census of England and Wales|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_310441.pdf|publisher=Office for National Statistics|page=9|date=16 May 2013|access-date=19 May 2015))</ref>

In addition to [[Naturalization|naturalisation]], the British government can grant settlement to foreign nationals. This confers upon foreign nationals [[Permanent residency|permanent residence]] in the UK, without granting them British citizenship. Grants of settlement are made on the basis of various factors, including employment, family formation and reunification, and asylum (including to deal with backlogs of asylum cases).<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/settlement-uk|title=Settlement in the UK|first=Scott|last=Blinder|publisher=The Migration Observatory, University of Oxford|date=11 June 2014|access-date=24 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524194304/http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/settlement-uk|archive-date=24 May 2015|url-status=dead))</ref> The total number of grants of settlement to Somali nationals was 1,952 in 2017, out of a total of 65,102 for all foreign nationals, compared to 4,900 out of 241,192 in 2010.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/781110/settlement-dec-2018-tables.ods|title=Table se_03: Grants of settlement by country of nationality and category and in-country refusals of settlement|publisher=Home Office|date=28 February 2019|access-date=10 March 2019))</ref>

==Demographics==

===Population and distribution===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right;"
|-
! scope="col" style="width:100px;"| Location
! scope="col" style="width:150px;"| Somali-born population (2011 Census)<ref name="2011cen"/>
! scope="col" style="width:150px;"| Somalis regardless of birthplace (2003–2007 estimates collated by [[Department for Communities and Local Government|CLG]])((sfn|Communities and Local Government|2009|p=29))
! scope="col" style="width:150px;"| Somalis regardless of birthplace (2006 estimates by [[Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees|ICAR]])((sfn|International Organization for Migration|2006|p=6))
|-
| [[London]] || 65,333 || || 70,000
|-
| [[Birmingham]] || 7,765 || 3,000–4,000 || 35,000
|-
| [[Bristol]] || 4,947 || ||
|-
| [[Manchester]] || 3,645 || 5,000–6,000 ||
|-
| [[Leicester]] || 3,209 || 10,000–15,000 || 15,000
|-
| [[Sheffield]] || 2,372|| 3,000–5,000 || 10,000
|-
| [[Cardiff]] || 1,672 || || 10,000
|-
| [[Liverpool]] || 1,249 || 3,000–5,000 ||
|-
| [[Slough]] || 1,247 || ||
|-
| [[Coventry]] || 1,181 || ||
|-
| [[Milton Keynes]] || 1,141 || ||
|}
As of 2018, the UK was believed to have the largest Somali community in [[Europe]].<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.infomigrants.net/en/webdoc/139/young-muslim-and-black-the-struggle-of-integration-for-somalis-in-the-uk|title=Young, Muslim and Black: The struggle of integration for Somalis in the UK|first=Emma|last=Wallis|publisher=InfoMigrants|date=13 August 2018|accessdate=1 November 2022))</ref> The [[Office for National Statistics]] estimates that 108,000 Somali-born immigrants were resident in the UK in 2018.<ref name="ONS2018">((ONSCoB2018|accessdate=14 April 2020))</ref> The [[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 UK Census]] recorded 99,484 Somali-born residents in England, 1,886 in Wales,<ref name="2011cen">((cite web|title=2011 Census: QS203EW Country of birth (detailed), local authorities in England and Wales|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-qs203ew.xls|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=11 December 2012|access-date=2 February 2015))</ref> 1,591 in [[Scotland]],<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/rel2a_COB_detailed_Scotland.pdf|title=Country of birth (detailed)|publisher=National Records of Scotland|access-date=8 March 2015))</ref> and 88 in [[Northern Ireland]].<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk/Download/Census%202011_Excel/2011/QS206NI.xls |title=Country of Birth – Full Detail: QS206NI |publisher=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |access-date=8 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095516/http://www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk/Download/Census%202011_Excel/2011/QS206NI.xls |archive-date=4 March 2016 ))</ref> The previous census, [[United Kingdom Census 2001|held in 2001]], had recorded 43,532 Somali-born residents.<ref name="Census2001">((Cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/23/34792376.xls |title=Country-of-birth database |publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |access-date=13 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050511105416/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/23/34792376.xls |archive-date=11 May 2005 ))</ref> This was widely considered an undercount, and in response, the Office for National Statistics employed the services of a Somali community adviser in the run-up to the 2011 Census in order to address possible under-enumeration of Somalis.<ref name=Muir2012/><ref name=Muir2010>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/nov/16/hideaously-diverse-britain-somali-community|title=Hideously diverse Britain: Paul and Rachel Chandler have put British Somalians in the spotlight|first=Hugh|last=Muir|work=The Guardian|date=16 November 2010|access-date=13 June 2015))</ref>

Estimates of the Somali-born population are complicated by the exchange of Somalis both arriving in the UK and those deciding to return to Somalia or elsewhere.<ref name=Identities/> According to academic Laura Hammond, this mobility is common within the Somali diaspora, with many having residences in both Somalia and the UK. Somali immigrants from the more stable regions of Somalia often vacation in those areas for extended periods during the summer. The [[United Nations Development Programme]] estimated in 2009 that 10,000 Somalis were visiting the northwestern [[Somaliland]] region from the UK annually,<ref name=UNDP>((cite web| url=http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/SNAA-7XR397?OpenDocument | publisher=[[United Nations Development Programme]] Somalia| title=Somalia's missing million: The Somali diaspora and its role in development | date=4 April 2009|access-date=23 May 2015))</ref> though Hammond argues that this total may also include people simply transferring through the UK.<ref name=Hammond>((cite journal|title=Somali Transnational Activism and Integration in the UK: Mutually Supporting Strategies|journal=Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies|first=Laura|last=Hammond|volume=39|issue=6|pages=1001–1017|year=2013|doi=10.1080/1369183X.2013.765666|s2cid=144650347))</ref>

The ethnic classification of Somalis in Britain has varied over the years. During the early 20th century, Somalis were administered as "Somali" or "[[Arabs|Arab]]" in tandem with Egyptians, Sudanese, Zanzibaris and Yemenis. Along with other groups from the Arab world, Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia, these populations were also sometimes collectively identified in a non-racial, political sense with the epithet "black" or its then neutral equivalent "coloured" in order to underscore their common experience of colonial subordination.<ref>((cite book|last=Tabili|first=Laura|title=We Ask for British Justice: Workers and Racial Difference in Late Imperial Britain|date=1994|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=0801429048|page=[https://archive.org/details/weaskforbritishj00tabi/page/9 9]|url=https://archive.org/details/weaskforbritishj00tabi/page/9|access-date=22 December 2015|url-access=registration))</ref>

Presently, there is no "Somali" option amongst the tick-box answers to the ethnicity question in the UK Census. Respondents who identify as Somali can, however, indicate this through a write-in response option.<ref>((cite web|title=House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 14 July 2006 (pt 0005)|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo060714/text/60714w0005.htm|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=22 December 2015))</ref> Following lobbying from Somali and other groups, a new "Arab" tick-box was introduced in the 2011 Census.<ref name=Popuethn>((cite web|url=http://www.policyresearch.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167&Itemid=52|title=Population – Ethnicity|publisher=Policy Research Centre|access-date=15 June 2015))</ref> According to sociologists [[Peter J. Aspinall]] and Martha Judith Chinouya, qualitative findings indicate that "groups from northern Africa, the Horn of Africa, and some parts of the eastern coastline and islands of Africa may not identify themselves as black African. It was felt that they don't see themselves as black or African and might describe themselves by nationality specifically (eg, Somali or Sudanese), perhaps Afro-Arabs, or Arab-African".<ref name=AspinallChinouya/> Aspinall and Lavinia Mitton note that "those from Somalia may consider themselves to be Arab-African rather than Black African because of their religion and physical features".<ref>((cite book|chapter=Black Africans in England: A Diversity of Integration Experiences|first1=Lavinia|last1=Mitton|first2=Peter|last2=Aspinall|editor1-first=John|editor1-last=Stillwell|editor2-first=Maarten|editor2-last=van Ham|title=Ethnicity and Integration: Understanding Population Trends and Processes volume 3|pages=179–202|doi=10.1007/978-90-481-9103-1_9|isbn=978-90-481-9102-4|year=2010|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media))</ref> The Policy Research Centre argued that "the inclusion of Arab will help refine the British Muslim picture as many Arabic speaking British citizens who are Muslim, as well as many who are not, could not find an appropriate category, and selecting from 3 or 4 near matches". However, it cautioned that "the new Arab ethnic category will give us a clearer picture, but could confuse the Somali ethnic count[...] this may lead to challenges in accurately sizing citizens of Somali heritage. Such respondents will have to choose between Arab as a linguistic choice and Black African as a geographical and/or racial choice. Moreover, because of such community drives to get Somalis more noticed, it is likely Somali responses under the Black section will be split between African and Other Black".<ref name=Popuethn/> Question testing with Somalis in Wales in the run-up to the census revealed inconsistent answering of the ethnicity question. Some Somali participants in the test ticked the "African" box, others wrote in "Somali", and one person ticked both "African" and "Arab". Some Somali participants in both Wales and England believed that there was a need for a Somali tick-box, whereas others felt that the African option was sufficient.((sfn|Office for National Statistics|2009|p=42)) No Somali, Egyptian, Berber, Kurdish or Iranian respondents chose to identify solely as Arab.((sfn|Office for National Statistics|2009|p=44)) Similarly, question testing in Scotland found that "Somalian" was the most frequent write-in response given under the "African or Caribbean: Other" heading. "Somalian" was also the most common write-in response under "Other ethnic group: Other".<ref>((cite web|title=Scotland's New Official Ethnicity Classification – For Scottish Official Statistics and Recommended for Scotland's 2011 Census|url=http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/233640/0063967.pdf|publisher=General Register Office for Scotland|access-date=22 December 2015))</ref>

When the 2011 Census was conducted, 37,708 residents in England and Wales wrote in "Somali" and 5,226 wrote in "Somalilander" under the "Black/African/Caribbean/Black British" heading in response to the ethnicity question. 6,146 wrote "Somali" and 826 "Somalilander" under the "Other ethnic group" heading. Others also wrote in "Somali" or "Somalilander" under the "White" (743 "Somali" and 151 "Somalilander"), "Mixed/multiple ethnic groups" (621 "Somali"), and "Asian/Asian British" (257 "Somali") headings.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-and-quick-statistics-for-wards-and-output-areas-in-england-and-wales/rft---qs211ew-wm.xls|title=Table QS211EW: 2011 Census: Ethnic group (detailed), local authorities in England and Wales|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=30 January 2013|access-date=15 June 2015))</ref> In Scotland, 238 people wrote in "Somali" under the African heading.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/rel2A_Ethnicity_detailed_Scotland.pdf|title=Ethnic group (detailed): All people|publisher=National Records of Scotland|year=2013|access-date=22 June 2015|archive-date=21 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521214855/http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/rel2A_Ethnicity_detailed_Scotland.pdf|url-status=dead))</ref> With regard to the "Arab" tick-box and write-in ethnic identity responses, the National Association of British Arabs indicates that "many people responded to the question in terms of a refined categorisation, and specifically those Arabs from North Africa and Somalia", but notes that it is uncertain how many of these individuals responded in the general 'Arab' box.<ref>((cite web|title=Report on the 2011 Census – May 2013 – Arabs and Arab League Population in the UK|url=http://www.naba.org.uk/library/reports/census_2011.html|publisher=National Association of British Arabs|access-date=5 January 2016))</ref> The organisation categorises Somalia-born immigrants as Arabs. Based on census data, it indicates that they are the largest population of [[British Arab]]s by country of birth.<ref>((cite web|title=Report on the 2011 Census – May 2013 – Arabs and Arab League Population in the UK – Appendix 6 – Countries of Birth of UK Arabs|url=http://www.naba.org.uk/library/reports/appendix_6.html|publisher=National Association of British Arabs|access-date=5 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008073407/http://www.naba.org.uk/library/reports/appendix_6.html|archive-date=8 October 2014|url-status=dead))</ref> December 2018 saw the publication of the 2021 Census [[White paper|White Paper]], which proposes further changes to the ethnicity classification - specifically, the addition of a tick box for the Roma population, and a ‘search as you type’ facility to make it easier for people of Somali origin to use the write in under ‘[[British blacks|Black African]]’.<ref>((Cite web|url=https://history.blog.gov.uk/2019/03/07/50-years-of-collecting-ethnicity-data/|title = 50 years of collecting ethnicity data - History of government| date=7 March 2019 ))</ref>

As with estimates of the total Somali population in the UK, estimates by city vary significantly between sources.((sfn|Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees|2007|p=4)) This problem is partly the result of defining "Somali", with some sources estimating the Somali-born population only, and others estimating the size of the ethnic Somali community, including second and subsequent-generation British Somalis.((sfn|Harris|2004|p=32)) The 2011 census found that 65,333 Somali-born people were resident in London.<ref name="2011cen"/> Other sources suggest that Cardiff has the highest number of British-born people of Somali heritage anywhere in the UK,<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/wales/w_se/article_2.shtml|title=South East Wales: Somali community|publisher=BBC|access-date=12 June 2015))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jan/23/britishidentity.features11|title=Somalis in Cardiff|work=The Guardian|date=23 January 2006|access-date=12 June 2015))</ref> though the number of Somali-born immigrants there is relatively low.<ref name="Born abroad">((cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/born_abroad/countries/html/somalia.stm|title=Somalia|publisher=BBC News|access-date=19 August 2010 | date=7 September 2005))</ref>

Peter J. Aspinall argues that "the census is primarily designed to serve the needs of government and cannot meet the requirements of local authorities where particular groups outwith the category system may cluster. Examples include the Somalis and Yemenis in [[Sheffield]], the City Council arguing that a new approach to capturing a wider range of ethnic groups is needed where their numbers are not significant nationally".<ref>((cite journal|first=Peter J.|last=Aspinall|title=Answer Formats in British Census and Survey Ethnicity Questions: Does Open Response Better Capture 'Superdiversity'?|journal=Sociology|volume=46|issue=2|pages=354–364|year=2012|doi=10.1177/0038038511419195|s2cid=144841712))</ref> A 2003 report prepared for the London Borough of Hackney noted that: "Lack of sensitivity in monitoring has contributed to the Somali community's—often desperate—needs being overlooked".<ref name=Holman>((cite web|url=http://apps.hackney.gov.uk/servapps/Reports/s_ViewRptDoc.ASP?ID=1173|title=First steps in a new country: baseline indicators for the Somali community in LB Hackney|first1=Christine|last1=Holman|first2=Naomi|last2=Holman|publisher=London Borough of Hackney Overview and Scrutiny Board|date=11 June 2003|access-date=19 July 2015))</ref> The final report of the [[Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities]], published in March 2021, argued that "2 categories that could in future be helpfully sub-divided are White Other which does not distinguish between West Europeans and East Europeans, and Black African which does not distinguish between sub-Saharan African people in general and Somalis who are now a substantial group in their own right".<ref>((cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/974507/20210331_-_CRED_Report_-_FINAL_-_Web_Accessible.pdf|title=Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: The Report|publisher=Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities|date=March 2021|page=49|accessdate=24 October 2021))</ref>

===Gender and age distribution===
The Somali-born population of the UK includes a disproportionate number of females in comparison with the general population. Analysis of data from the [[Labour Force Survey]] by the [[Institute for Public Policy Research]] (IPPR) suggests that 61 per cent of the Somali-born population in 2006/07 was female.<ref name=MovingUp>((cite book|title=Moving Up Together: Promoting equality and integration among the UK's diverse communities|first1=Jill|last1=Rutter|first2=Laurence|last2=Cooley|first3=Naomi|last3=Jones|first4=Rachel|last4=Pillai|location=London|publisher=Institute for Public Policy Research|year=2008|isbn=9781860303203))</ref> Of the 101,370 Somali-born residents of England and Wales recorded by the 2011 Census, 57,042 (56.3 per cent) were female.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/DC2109EWR/view/2092957703?rows=c_cob&cols=c_sex|title=DC2109EWr – Country of birth by sex by age (regional)|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=16 May 2013|access-date=6 June 2015))</ref> The equivalent figure for the UK as a whole from the previous census, held in 2001, was 54 per cent.((sfn|Harris|2004|p=33)) Expressed as a [[sex ratio]], the 2011 figure suggests that there were 78 Somali-born men per 100 Somali-born women, compared to the overall sex ratio for England and Wales of 97 men per 100 women.((sfn|Office for National Statistics|2014|p=13))

A number of explanations for this high proportion of female Somali-born immigrants have been advanced. The IPPR suggests that it might be due to more men than women being killed in the [[Somali Civil War]], leaving women as refugees, that some Somali men have left Britain for work in the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf]], where their employment prospects are better, and also that some Somali men have left the UK in order to return to Somaliland, whilst their families stay behind to enable the completion of education.<ref name=MovingUp/> The civil war in Somalia resulted in a change in the composition of the Somali population in the UK. Prior to the 1980s, it was primarily composed of single seamen; as a result of the war it became a refugee community with an increased proportion of women and children.((sfn|Harris|2004|p=23))

Harris states that the divorce rate for Somalis in the UK is high. She explains: "If a man is unemployed, brings in no income, spends what his wife earns or receives from social security on [[khat]], will not help with domestic chores, and colludes with nagging in-laws – then a woman may feel better off without him".((sfn|Harris|2004|p=63)) Writing in 2006, refugee education expert Jill Rutter reported that research suggested between 20 and 70 per cent of Somali households in Britain were headed by single females.((sfn|Rutter|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/refugeechildrenu00rutt/page/n191 179])) In the 2011 Census, 61 per cent of families in England and Wales where the head of the household was born in Somalia consisted of lone parents with dependent children. This was the highest proportion of all countries of birth. 7.6 per cent of Somali-born lone parents were men, around half of the proportion of male lone parents in the population as a whole.((sfn|Office for National Statistics|2014|pp=13–14))

According to the 2011 UK Census, the Somali-born population in England and Wales is on average young. 79 per cent of Somali immigrants were under 45 years of age compared with 58 per cent of the general population.((sfn|Office for National Statistics|2014|p=10)) Partly due to the Somali-born population's younger age structure, 47 per cent of Somali immigrant families included three or more dependent children compared with a mean of 7 per cent for all families in England and Wales.((sfn|Office for National Statistics|2014|pp=17, 19))

===Language===
[[File:Somwomldn.jpg|thumb|right|Somali women at a [[Somali language]] event in London.]]
The 2011 UK Census recorded 85,918 people living in England and Wales who spoke Somali as their main language. This represented 0.16 per cent of the population, and 2.06 per cent of speakers of non-English main languages.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.ethnicity.ac.uk/medialibrary/briefings/languagesspoken/figure%201%20language-diversity.xlsx|title=What languages are spoken in England and Wales?|publisher=ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE)|first1=Deepthi|last1=Gopal|first2=Yaron|last2=Matras|date=October 2013|access-date=28 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521190956/http://www.ethnicity.ac.uk/medialibrary/briefings/languagesspoken/figure%201%20language-diversity.xlsx|archive-date=21 May 2015|format=XLS))</ref>  Somali speakers were present in only a few wards (16 per cent).<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.ethnicity.ac.uk/medialibrary/briefingsupdated/what-languages-are-spoken-in-england-and-wales.pdf|title=What languages are spoken in England and Wales?|publisher=ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE)|first1=Deepthi|last1=Gopal|first2=Yaron|last2=Matras|date=October 2013|access-date=28 April 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501021943/http://www.ethnicity.ac.uk/medialibrary/briefingsupdated/what-languages-are-spoken-in-england-and-wales.pdf|archive-date=1 May 2015))</ref> The number of Somali speakers recorded in Scotland was 1,050.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/rel2A_Language_detailed_Scotland.pdf|title=Language used at home other than English (detailed): All people aged 3 and over|publisher=National Records of Scotland|year=2013|access-date=12 May 2015|archive-date=15 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215021127/https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/rel2A_Language_detailed_Scotland.pdf|url-status=dead))</ref>

Some Somalis in the UK also speak [[Arabic language|Arabic]], another Afro-Asiatic tongue and the other official language of Somalia,<ref name="Charter">((cite web|url=http://www.chr.up.ac.za/hr_docs/countries/docs/charterfeb04.pdf |publisher=[[Transitional Federal Government]] |title=The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic (Article 7) |date=February 2004 |access-date=1 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218004011/http://www.chr.up.ac.za/hr_docs/countries/docs/charterfeb04.pdf |archive-date=18 December 2008 ))</ref> with about 15 per cent of Somalis in [[England]] being fluent in it according to a 2006 report by the [[Foreign Policy Centre]]. The Somali community in the UK also includes a small minority of [[Bravanese dialect|Chimwiini]] speakers.((sfn|Communities and Local Government|2009|p=38))

According to the 2011 UK Census, 73,765 of a total 101,131 Somalia-born residents in England and Wales indicated that English was not their main language. Of those, 54,369 individuals indicated that they could speak the language well or very well, 16,575 indicated that they could not speak the language well, and 2,821 indicated that they could not speak the language at all. 27,366 of the Somalia-born residents reported that English was their main language.<ref>((cite web|title=Country of birth by Proficiency in English|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/business-transparency/freedom-of-information/what-can-i-request/published-ad-hoc-data/census/ethnicity/ct0270-2011-census.xls|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=30 July 2014|access-date=19 May 2015))</ref>

===Religion===
The majority of Somalis, in the UK and elsewhere, are Muslims.<ref>((cite book|title=Transnational Nomads: How Somalis Cope with Refugee Life in the Dadaab Camps of Kenya|first=Cindy|last=Horst|publisher=Berghahn Books|location=New York|year=2006|page=67|isbn=978-1845451295))</ref><ref>((cite book|title=Muslims in the Diaspora: The Somali Communities of London and Toronto|url=https://archive.org/details/muslimsindiaspor00rima|url-access=registration|first=Rima Berns|last=McGown|publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto|year=1999|isbn=978-0802082817))</ref> The majority adhere to the [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] branch of [[Islam]] and the [[Shafi`i]] school of [[Islamic jurisprudence]].((sfn|Abdullahi|2001|p=55)) According to the 2011 UK census, 94,197 or roughly 93% of Somalia-born residents in England and Wales are Muslim. They constitute one of the largest [[Islam in the United Kingdom|Muslim groups in the UK]].<ref>((cite web|title=CT0265 – Country of birth by year of arrival by religion|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/business-transparency/freedom-of-information/what-can-i-request/published-ad-hoc-data/census/ethnicity/ct0265-2011-census.xls|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=10 October 2014|access-date=19 May 2015))</ref> [[Mosque]]s are the primary centres for religious and social gatherings, and also play an important role in sharing information. Traditionally, Somalis attended masjids established by the more settled Muslim communities from Asian and Arab countries,<ref name=Holman/> though there are now a small number of mosques operated by Somalis.((sfn|Communities and Local Government|2009|pp=37–38))

Research conducted for the [[London Borough of Camden]], published in 2002, notes that levels of religious adherence and interpretations of Islam within the Somali community varies according to social class. Overall, the research suggested that Somali migrants' adherence to Islam tended to increase in the UK, as it "offers a unique common denominator in constructing a specifically Somali identity".((sfn|Khan and Jones|2002|p=19))

===Qualifications===
Levels of education amongst Somali-born adults in the UK are low relative to many other foreign-born groups and to the British-born population.<ref name=Muir2012/><ref name="economist.com"/>((sfn|Rutter|2013|p=39)) Analysis of Labour Force Survey data by the Institute for Public Policy Research, published in 2008, shows that in 2006/07, 48 per cent of the working-age Somali-born population of the UK had no qualifications. 6 per cent had GCSEs at grades A*-C or equivalent foreign qualifications, and 19 per cent had [[A-levels]] or their equivalent. The remaining 27 per cent were classified as having "other qualifications". The IPPR note that it is often difficult to classify foreign qualifications, and hence a higher proportion of foreign-born populations are classified in this category than the UK-born population. When immigrants' qualifications are classified as "other", they note, they are often of a high level.<ref name=MovingUp/>

According to the 2011 Census, out of a total of 89,022 Somali-born residents aged 16 and over in the UK, 55 per cent had completed up to a lower secondary education ([[International Standard Classification of Education#ISCED 1997 levels of education|ISCED Level 2]]), 25 per cent had completed up to an upper secondary education (ISCED Level 3), 20 per cent had completed up to the first stage of tertiary education (ISCED Level 5), and 0.3 per cent had completed up to the second stage of tertiary education (ISCED Level 6). By comparison, 29 per cent of all foreign-born residents aged 16 and over had completed up to a lower secondary education, 24 per cent had completed up to an upper secondary education, 46 per cent had completed up to the first stage of tertiary education, and 0.9 per cent had completed up to the second stage of tertiary education.<ref>((cite web|title=United Kingdom Submission for United Nations Questionnaire on Population and Housing Censuses (part 2) – Table 14a: Foreign-born population 15 years of age and over by continent/country of birth, educational attainment (ISCED 4) and sex – Both sexes|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/united-kingdom-submission-for-united-nations-questionnaire-on-population-and-housing-censuses--part-2-/rft-table-1.xls|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=30 July 2014|access-date=23 May 2015))</ref>

According to the IPPR, the relatively low level of education among Somali migrants in the UK can be attributed to their migratory history and the situation in their country of origin. They note that, like many other refugee and migrant communities, early Somali migrants tend to be relatively well educated, but later arrivals, including family members of early migrants, are less well qualified. Labour migrants arriving prior to 1988 were generally literate in either English or Arabic, although few had completed secondary education. Many of the initial wave of refugees from the Somali Civil War who started to arrive from 1988 onwards were well educated, with many possessing secondary education and some holding degrees. According to the IPPR, the educational profile of Somali migrants subsequently changed again, because of the impact of the civil war on education in Somalia. In the north, including Somaliland, the majority of schools in urban areas were destroyed, along with higher education institutions. In the south, "education has been completely destroyed by the fighting". While some schools have been rebuilt and have reopened, the IPPR reports that "younger Somalis who have come directly from Somalia will not have attended university and are likely to have had a very interrupted education or none at all".<ref name=MovingUp/>

===Employment===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right;"
|+ Occupations by year of arrival of Somali-born residents aged 16 and over in employment, England and Wales, 2011<ref name="Cobyoaiubcob"/>
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" scope="col" width="175px"|'''Occupations'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" scope="col" width="75px"|'''All Somali-born'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" scope="col" width="75px"|'''Arrived before 1981'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" scope="col" width="75px"|'''Arrived 1981–1990'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" scope="col" width="75px"|'''Arrived 1991–2000'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;" scope="col" width="75px"|'''Arrived 2001–2011'''
|-
| Managers, directors and senior officials||5.0%||7.7%||6.6%||4.6%||4.9%
|-
| Professional occupations||10.1%||24.2%||14.8%||11.4%||7.7%
|-
| Associate professional and technical occupations||7.7%||13.5%||12.3%||8.7%||5.9%
|-
| Administrative and secretarial occupations||6.8%||8.7%||8.6%||7.3%||6.0%
|-
| Skilled trades occupations||4.5%||10.6%||4.1%||4.1%||4.8%
|-
| Caring, leisure and other service occupations||14.4%||9.7%||13.0%||14.3%||14.8%
|-
| Sales and customer service occupations||11.4%||5.2%||11.1%||11.8%||11.2%
|-
| Process, plant and machine operatives||14.2%||8.4%||14.8%||16.3%||12.3%
|-
| Elementary occupations||25.9%||11.9%||14.8%||21.5%||32.3%
|-
| '''Total'''||'''26,926'''||'''310'''||'''2,297'''||'''11,577'''||'''12,742'''
|-
|}
In 2009, Somali-born migrants had the lowest employment rate among all immigrants in the UK.((sfn|Communities and Local Government|2009|p=60)) Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show high rates of economic inactivity and unemployment amongst Somali immigrants. In the three months to June 2008, 31.4 per cent of Somali men and 84.2 per cent of Somali women were economically inactive (the statistics include students, carers and the long-term sick, injured or disabled in this group).<ref name=Khan>((cite web|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lmac/employment-of-foreign-workers/employment-of-foreign-workers-male-and-female-labour-market-participation/employment-of-foreign-workers--male-and-female-labour-market-participation.pdf|title=Employment of foreign workers: Male and female labour market participation|first=Kamran|last=Khan|publisher=[[Office for National Statistics]]|date=August 2008|access-date=5 August 2010))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/about-statistics/user-guidance/lm-guide/concepts/inactivity/reasons/index.html|title=Reasons for economic inactivity|publisher=Office for National Statistics|access-date=4 August 2010))</ref> Of those who were economically active, 41.4 per cent of the men and 39.1 per cent of the women were unemployed. Employment rates were 40.1 per cent for men and 9.6 per cent for women. The male employment rate in 2008 rose from 21.5 per cent in 1998.<ref name=Khan/> Writing in 2013, Jill Rutter states that "over the last 10 years, the employment rate of the Somalia-born population has rarely been above 20 per cent of the 16–64-year-old population".((sfn|Rutter|2013|p=40)) 

A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research attributes the low employment rate to the newness of the Somali community and to the fact that most immigrants came in search of asylum rather than through labour migration channels. Research suggests that refugees in general appear to have more difficulty accessing employment than other groups.<ref name="IPPR"/><ref name=Bloch2004>((cite journal|title=Labour Market Participation and Conditions of Employment: A Comparison of Minority Ethnic Groups and Refugees in Britain|first=Alice|last=Bloch|journal=Sociological Research Online|volume=9|issue=2|year=2004|pages=16–34|doi=10.5153/sro.919|s2cid=144571322|url=http://www.socresonline.org.uk/9/2/bloch.html))</ref> Many Somalis have had difficulty getting the qualifications that they have gained in Somalia recognised in the UK.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/London-poverty-ethnicity-full.pdf|title=Experience of poverty and ethnicity in London|publisher=Joseph Rowntree Foundation|first1=Karen|last1=Chouhan|first2=Stuart|last2=Speeden|first3=Undaleeb|last3=Qazi|date=May 2011|page=21|access-date=19 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722042856/http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/London-poverty-ethnicity-full.pdf|archive-date=22 July 2015|url-status=dead))</ref><ref name="Casciani">((cite news|last=Casciani|first=Dominic|title=Asylum workers could help London|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2725337.stm|access-date=12 September 2013|publisher=BBC News|date=4 February 2003))</ref><ref name="AETLSC">((cite web|title=Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Learning and Skills Council London North Area|url=http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/10237/1/Refugees_and_Asylum_Seekers_in_the_LSC_London_North_Area_.pdf|publisher=Africa Education Trust and London Learning and Skills Council|date=2002|access-date=13 September 2013))</ref> Other main employment barriers included lack of references and prior work experience in the UK, unfamiliarity with the UK job culture, discrimination, over-reliance on word-of-mouth for job openings rather than employment centres and classifieds, and lack of fluency in the English language.<ref name="AETLSC"/> The IPPR suggests that the high proportion of Somali households that are headed by a single woman may mean that childcare is an additional barrier to Somali women entering employment.<ref name=MovingUp/> Additionally, asylum seekers are also not normally allowed to work for payment while their claims are being processed, although they can request permission to work if they have waited longer than 12 months for an initial decision on their asylum claim.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-whilst-an-asylum-claim-is-considered/working-in-the-uk-whilst-an-asylum-case-is-considered|title=Working in the UK while an asylum case is considered|publisher=Home Office|date=21 February 2014|access-date=2 February 2015))</ref>

Analysis of [[Labour Force Survey]] (LFS) data by academic Lavinia Mitton suggests that 22 per cent of Somalia-born adults in the UK have experienced difficulty finding and keeping work due to a lack of English-language ability.<ref name=Mitton>((cite journal|title=The Languages of Black Africans in England|first=Lavinia|last=Mitton|journal=Journal of Intercultural Studies|volume=32|issue=2|pages=151–172|year=2011|doi=10.1080/07256868.2011.547174|s2cid=144253261))</ref> Mitton and Aspinall also argue that [[logistic regression]] analysis of LFS data from 2003, 2006 and 2009 indicates that an [[ethnic penalty]] existed for Somalis even after other factors impacting employment, like English language proficiency, work experience, health, age, religion and marital status, had been taken into consideration.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.restore.ac.uk/UPTAP/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/uptap-findings-mitton-jan-11.pdf|title=Black Africans in the UK: Integration or segregation?|first1=Lavinia|last1=Mitton|first2=Peter|last2=Aspinall|publisher=ESRC Understanding Population Trends and Processes|date=January 2011|access-date=23 May 2015))</ref>

According to the Home Office, 64 per cent of Somali refugees had a low level of English language skills at the time of their asylum decision in the UK, which hindered their ability to find employment. A further 28 per cent had medium fluency, and 8 per cent had high proficiency in the language. Employment rates also steadily increased over time, with 20 per cent of the refugees in employment 8 months after the asylum decision, 28 per cent in employment after 15 months, and 39 per cent in employment after 21 months.<ref name="Soriffsnruk">((cite web|title=Spotlight on refugee integration: findings from the Survey of New Refugees in the United Kingdom|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/116062/horr37-report.pdf|publisher=Home Office|date=July 2010|access-date=20 May 2015))</ref>

According to the 2011 UK Census, there were 26,926 Somalia-born residents aged 16 and over in employment in England and Wales. Of these immigrants, the majority worked in elementary occupations (26 per cent), with the proportion working in these occupations higher amongst those who had arrived in the UK between 2001 and 2011 than amongst earlier-arriving Somalis.<ref name="Cobyoaiubcob">((cite web|title=CT0238 – Occupation by year of arrival in UK by country of birth|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/business-transparency/freedom-of-information/what-can-i-request/published-ad-hoc-data/census/ethnicity/ct0238-2011-census.xls|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=25 March 2014|access-date=19 May 2015))</ref> These elementary occupations were the second most common occupations among foreign nationals as a whole,<ref>((cite web|title=71% of foreign nationals economically active in England and Wales|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/detailed-characteristics-for-regions-in-england-and-for-wales/sty-economic-activity.html|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=12 August 2013|access-date=19 May 2015))</ref> and the most common occupations for individuals who were not proficient in English.<ref>((cite web|title=People who could not speak English well or at all had a lower rate of employment|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census-analysis/english-language-proficiency-in-the-labour-market/sty-english-language-proficiency.html|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=29 January 2014|access-date=19 May 2015))</ref> The next most common occupations among Somali immigrants were caring, leisure and other service occupations (14 per cent), process, plant and machine operatives (14 per cent), sales and customer service occupations (11 per cent), professional occupations (10 per cent), associate professional and technical occupations (8 per cent), administrative and secretarial occupations (7 per cent), managers, directors and senior officials (5 per cent), and skilled trade occupations (5 per cent).<ref name="Cobyoaiubcob"/>

According to [[Trust for London]], at 37 per cent in 2015–2016, Somalia is the only country of birth for London residents where male worklessness (the proportion of the working-age population who are unemployed or economically inactive) is above 30 per cent. Female worklessness for those born in Somalia was 71 per cent.<ref name=Trust>((Cite web|url=https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/worklessness-country-birth/|title=Worklessness by country of birth|publisher=Trust for London|access-date=29 September 2018))</ref>

==Culture==

===Music===
[[File:58634321 aar.jpg|thumb|right|Popular Somali singer [[Aar Maanta]].]]
Prominent Somali musicians based in the UK include [[Aar Maanta]], who produces an eclectic mix of styles blended with traditional [[Music of Somalia|Somali music]], such as the classical [[oud]]-centred ''Qaraami'' ("love songs" in Arabic) style of the 1940s.<ref name="Amiwapw">((cite news|title=Aar Maanta Interview with Afro Pop Worldwide|url=http://www.aarmaanta.com/?p=268|access-date=8 April 2013|newspaper=Afro Pop|date=1 May 2009))</ref> [[Poly Styrene]] (born Marianne Joan Elliott-Said), whose father was Somali, was a member of the punk rock band [[X-Ray Spex]], and later a solo artist.<ref>((cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8474819/Poly-Styrene.html | title=Poly Styrene | work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | date=26 April 2011 | access-date=24 July 2011))</ref> [[Hudeidi|Ahmed Ismail Hussein Hudeidi]], who died in London of [[Coronavirus disease 2019|COVID-19]] in April 2020 after having settled in the city, was described by the BBC as "a founding father of modern Somali music".<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-52280216|title=Hudeidi: The Somali 'king of oud' who was felled by coronavirus|publisher=BBC News|date=19 April 2020|access-date=21 April 2020))</ref>

===Media===
The [[BBC Somali Service]] is a radio station transmitted in the Somali language around the world. The majority of Somalis in the UK listen to the BBC Somali Service for news and information.((sfn|International Organization for Migration|2006|p=16)) While many listen at home via satellite radio or the Internet, others listen in groups at Somali shops, restaurants or mosques.((sfn|International Organization for Migration|2006|p=16))

Somali Eye Media is a media organisation based in London and set up in 2003 by Adam Dirir, a prominent member of the Somali community. It publishes the magazine ''Somali Eye'' quarterly,<ref>((cite web| url=http://www.sse.org.uk/student_story.php?storyid=3 | publisher=School for Social Entrepreneurs | title=The SSE was the right place at the right time for me| access-date=1 July 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501033445/http://www.sse.org.uk/student_story.php?storyid=3 | archive-date=1 May 2008))</ref> and operates Somali Voice Radio, a radio station, through Sound Radio 1503 AM.<ref>((cite web| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2006/10/16/somali_week_feature.shtml | publisher=[[BBC London]] |title=Somali Week | date=27 December 2007 | access-date=1 July 2010))</ref> Two other UK-based Somali radio stations are Somali On Air((sfn|International Organization for Migration|2006|p=16)) and Nomad Radio.<ref>((cite web|url=http://nomadradio.co.uk/about/|title=About Nomad Radio|publisher=Nomad Radio|access-date=16 November 2011))</ref> [[Bristol Community FM]] features a weekly chat show that is hosted by Somali Women's Voice.<ref>((Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/england/8506097.stm|title=Will Bristol's Somali voice be heard in the election?|first=Dickon|last=Hooper|publisher=BBC News|date=6 April 2010|access-date=7 August 2010))</ref>

There are also a few weekly and monthly Somali newspapers available in the UK in both Somali and English, including ''Kasmo'', ''Jamhuuriya'',((sfn|International Organization for Migration|2006|p=14)) and ''The Somali Voice''.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.thesomalivoice.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=26|title=About us|work=The Somali Voice|first=Kayse|last=Maxamed|date=28 February 2007|access-date=1 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309090102/http://www.thesomalivoice.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=26|archive-date=9 March 2009|url-status=dead))</ref> Other magazines and newspapers have failed due to poor readership figures.((sfn|International Organization for Migration|2006|p=14)) A 2006 survey by the [[International Organization for Migration]] suggests that Somalis in the UK prefer to read newspapers such as ''[[Metro (Associated Metro Limited)|Metro]]'' to improve their English-language skills, although listening to radio was more popular.((sfn|International Organization for Migration|2006|p=14)) In 2007, five emerging Somali authors (including Adam Dirir) published ''Silent Voices'', an anthology about Somali life in Britain.<ref>((cite web| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/10/21/your_london_silent_voices_video_feature.shtml | publisher=[[BBC London]] | title=Silent Voices | date=21 December 2007 | access-date=30 June 2010))</ref>

Prominent Somali media figures in the UK include [[Rageh Omaar]], a television news presenter and a writer, and advocate for the Somali community. He received the 2002–2003 [[Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy]] award for the best TV journalist.<ref>((cite web| url=http://www.emmainteractive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13538&Itemid=3320 | publisher=[[Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy]] | title=Best TV Journalist Award Winner 2002–2003 | access-date=1 July 2010))</ref> Omaar was formerly a [[BBC]] world affairs correspondent, where he made his name reporting on the [[Iraq War]].<ref>((Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rageh-omaar | title=Rageh Omaar | work=The Guardian | access-date=26 September 2010 | location=London | date=8 March 2010))</ref><ref>((Cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3671864/Rageh-Omaar-on-Iraq-A-nation-in-pieces.html | title=Rageh Omaar on Iraq: A nation in pieces | work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | first=Rageh|last=Omaar| date=15 March 2008 | access-date=26 September 2010 | location=London))</ref> In September 2006, he moved to a new post at [[Al Jazeera English]], where he currently hosts the current-affairs programme, ''The Rageh Omaar Show''.<ref>((Cite news| url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/news/a235829/al-jazeera-english-coming-to-freeview.html | publisher=[[Digital Spy]] | title=Al-Jazeera English coming to Freeview | first=Andrew|last=Laughlin | date=30 June 2010 | access-date=1 July 2010))</ref> [[Yusuf Garaad Omar]] is a Somali journalist and former head of the BBC Somali Service.<ref>((cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7265115.stm | publisher=BBC News | title=The meaning of Obama's robes  | date=26 February 2008 | access-date=6 August 2010))</ref> Other Somali media figures include [[Maya Jama]], a television and radio presenter,<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristols-maya-jama-bullies-ripped-1603228|title=Bristol's Maya Jama: Bullies 'ripped the s*** out of me' for Somali background|first=Alex|last=Wood|publisher=Bristol Live|date=24 May 2018|accessdate=2 February 2021))</ref> and [[Mo Ali]], a film director born in [[Saudi Arabia]],<ref>((Cite news|url=http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/interviews/mo-ali-11823 |title=Mo Ali |first=Tom |last=Seymour |work=[[Little White Lies (magazine)|Little White Lies]] |date=28 July 2010 |access-date=19 March 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414160222/http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/interviews/mo-ali-11823 |archive-date=14 April 2011 )) on 19 March 2011.</ref> who debuted in 2010 his feature film, ''[[Shank (2010 film)|Shank]]'', set in a futuristic London.<ref>((Cite journal| title = Live East's Tips for the Top: Who's Hot | journal = Live East Magazine | date = 21 May 2010 | issue = Spring 2010 | page=18 | url = http://issuu.com/live-east-mag/docs/live-east-issue-2-web-pdf8-10.pdf | access-date = 5 August 2010))</ref><ref>((Cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/shank-a-stab-at-the-big-time-1924377.html | work=[[The Independent]] | title=Shank: a stab at the big time | first=Matilda|last=Egere-Cooper | date=20 March 2010 | access-date=30 June 2010 | location=London))</ref> Somali-British author [[Nadifa Mohamed]]'s debuting novel, ''[[Black Mamba Boy]]'' (2009), won the 2010 [[Betty Trask Award]], and was short-listed for several awards, including the 2010 [[Guardian First Book Award]],<ref>((cite web | last=Page | first=Benedicte | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/29/guardian-first-book-award-shortlist | title=Guardian first book award shortlist revealed | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=29 October 2010 | access-date=23 July 2011))</ref> the 2010 [[Dylan Thomas Prize]],<ref>((cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11642324 | title=Somali author Nadifa Mohamed up for first book prize | publisher=BBC News | date=28 October 2010 | access-date=23 July 2011))</ref> and the 2010 [[John Llewellyn Rhys Prize]].<ref>((cite web|title=Shortlist announced for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2010 |publisher=booktrust |access-date=31 October 2010 |url=http://www.booktrust.org.uk/Prizes-and-awards/John-Llewellyn-Rhys-Prize |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127082624/http://www.booktrust.org.uk/Prizes-and-awards/John-Llewellyn-Rhys-Prize |archive-date=27 November 2010 ))</ref> In 2013, [[Warsan Shire]] was also selected from a shortlist of six young bards as the first Young Poet Laureate for London, part of the [[London Legacy Development Corporation]]'s Spoke programme in [[Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park]] and the surrounding area.<ref name="Wsaalfypl">((cite news|title=Warsan Shire announced as London's first young poet laureate|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24375551|access-date=30 November 2013|newspaper=BBC|date=3 October 2013))</ref> Additionally, visual artist and writer [[Diriye Osman]]'s short stories have garnered literary recognition,<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.teamangelica.com/fairytales-for-lost-children |title=Fairytales for Lost Children |publisher=Team Angelica |access-date=29 August 2013 |archive-date=21 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054734/http://www.teamangelica.com/fairytales-for-lost-children |url-status=dead ))</ref> as has comedian and actor [[Prince Abdi]]'s stand-up.<ref name="islamexpo">((cite web|url=http://www.islamexpo.com/attractions.php?id=1&art=19&page=attractions.php|title=Attractions – IslamExpo – 11–14 July 2008 – Olympia, London|publisher=IslamExpo|access-date=3 March 2013|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305190527/http://islamexpo.com/attractions.php?art=19&id=1&page=attractions.php|url-status=dead))</ref>

===Sport===
[[File:Mo farah2.jpg|right|thumb|[[Mo Farah]] at the 2010 [[London Youth Games]] Hall of Fame and Awards Evening.]]
Somali athletes in the UK include [[Mo Farah]], a long-distance runner who won the gold medals in the [[Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres|5,000 metres]] and [[Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 metres]] at the [[2012 London Olympic Games]].<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/athletics/9452918/Mo-Farah-makes-history-as-first-British-man-to-take-gold-in-Olympic-10000m.html|title=Mo Farah makes history as first British man to take gold in Olympic 10,000m|first=Ian|last=Chadband|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=4 August 2012|access-date=6 August 2012))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18912882|title=Mo Farah wins men's 5,000m to claim second Olympic gold|first=Tom|last=Fordyce|publisher=BBC News|date=11 August 2012|access-date=17 August 2012))</ref> Farah was born in [[Mogadishu]] but grew up in [[Djibouti]] and moved to the UK aged eight.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/10/this-much-i-know-mo-farah-running-athlete-training|title=This much I know: Mo Farah|first=Emma|last=John|work=[[The Observer]]|page=8|date=10 October 2010|access-date=10 October 2010))</ref> He generally competes in the [[5,000 metres]] event, having won his first major title at the [[European Athletics Junior Championships]] in 2001. Farah also competes in [[cross-country running]], where in December 2006, he became European champion in Italy.<ref name="BBC-Cross-Country">((cite news| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/6166845.stm | publisher=[[BBC Sport]] |title = Farah storms to European success | date = 10 December 2006| access-date=1 July 2010))</ref> He holds the British indoor record in the [[3000 metres]]. In 2010, Farah earned Great Britain its first ever [[gold medal]] in the 10,000-metre event at the [[European Athletics Championships]], as well as a second gold in the 5,000 metres.<ref>((Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0728/1224275614329.html|title=Farah ends Britain's long wait in Europe|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|first=Ian|last=O'Riordan|date=28 July 2010|access-date=3 August 2010))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/aug/01/mo-farah-european-athletics-championships|title=Mo Farah reaches European summit via training in Kenya's mountains|work=[[The Guardian]]|first=Anna|last=Kessel|date=1 August 2010|access-date=3 August 2010 | location=London))</ref> Since winter 2011, Farah and his wife and daughters have lived in [[Portland, Oregon]], where they moved so that he could train under his American coach, [[Alberto Salazar]].<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/10374944/Mo-Farah-the-family-man-by-his-superwife.html|title=Mo Farah the family man by his superwife|first=Simon|last=Hart|work=Daily Telegraph|date=13 October 2013|access-date=8 June 2015))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/trackandfield/index.ssf/2013/04/oregon_track_field_rundown_mo.html|title=Oregon track & field rundown: Mo Farah escapes celebrity and concentrates on training in Portland|first=Ken|last=Goe|work=The Oregonian|date=16 April 2013|access-date=8 June 2015))</ref> Other prominent Somali athletes in the UK include paralympic bronze medalist [[Abdi Jama]], who was born in [[Burao]] and plays wheelchair basketball internationally for Great Britain.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.gbwba.org.uk/gbwba/index.cfm/gb-teams/gb-players/gb-men/great-britain-mens-wheelchair-basketball-player-abdi-jama/|title=Abdi Jama|publisher=British Wheelchair Basketball|access-date=23 May 2015|archive-date=23 December 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121223224915/http://www.gbwba.org.uk/gbwba/index.cfm/gb-teams/gb-players/gb-men/great-britain-mens-wheelchair-basketball-player-abdi-jama/|url-status=dead))</ref>

==Social issues==
Somalis in the UK are subject to a significant degree of [[social exclusion]]. Writing in ''The Guardian'' in 2008, Jeremy Sare argued that "the social exclusion of British Somalis is unparalleled and mirrors the isolation of Somalia itself".<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jun/05/immigration.immigrationpolicy|title=Adrift in the UK|first=Jeremy|last=Sare|work=The Guardian|date=5 June 2008|access-date=7 June 2015))</ref> According to an article in ''The Economist'' published in 2013, Somalis "are among the poorest, worst-educated and least-employed" refugee populations in Britain.<ref name="economist.com"/> Hammond argues that data on the educational, employment and housing status of Somalis in the UK reveals their "stark living conditions". Hammond cautions against taking these indicators of evidence a lack of desire to integrate on the part of British Somalis, arguing that while non-Somalis regard them as "a stubborn refusal to conform", for Somalis themselves their social exclusion "is experienced by Somalis as a constraint on their ability to engage both with their community living in the diaspora and, most importantly, with Somalis living in the country of origin".<ref name=Hammond/>

===Social integration===
((Undue weight section|the section mentions issues with violence yet does not provide any illuminating statistics on crime rates, only a number of community responses|date=April 2020))
[[File:Hanan Ibrahim1.JPG|thumb|Somali activist [[Hanan Ibrahim]], Chairperson of the Barnet Muslim Women's Network.]]
One of the main barriers to integration facing Somalis is insufficient English language skills, which has an effect on housing and health conditions.<ref name=legacies>((cite web| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/england/london/article_4.shtml | publisher=BBC| title=Immigration and emigration: The world in a city |date = February 2004| access-date=1 July 2010))</ref> The issue of youth crime and gang violence((which|date=April 2020)) within the Somali community is often covered in the media.<ref name=ONeill>((Cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6965719.ece|title=Crime has gone unchecked too long for Somali community in Britain|last=O'Neill|first=Sean|work=[[The Times]]|date=23 December 2009|access-date=26 September 2010 | location=London))</ref>((sfn|Communities and Local Government|2009|p=47)) In response, community youth forums have been established, which work closely with [[Law enforcement in the United Kingdom|law enforcement]] to deter vice. Women's groups have also started to form, and the [[Metropolitan Police]] recently hired its first Somali female officer.<ref name=ONeill /> Additionally, the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre (SYDRC), a Somali community-reach organisation based in Camden, has joined forces with the Metropolitan Police's Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team to establish the London Somali Youth Forum. The initiative provides an outlet for the city's young Somalis to address security-related issues and to get engaged with the local police. The SYDRC has hired numerous youth ambassadors for the purpose. As of December 2009, 16 young Somalis had been specifically trained in community engagement.<ref name="Metpol">((cite web| url=http://www.met.police.uk/job/job1013/the_job_43.pdf | publisher=[[Metropolitan Police]] | title=Bringing Met People Together|page=6|date = December 2009| access-date=4 August 2010))</ref> According to Abdikadir Ahmed of the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre in Camden, which encourages young Somalis to use the entrepreneurial skills they have learnt in gangs for more productive purposes and which works with Somalis in [[Feltham Young Offenders Institution]], the number of young Somalis who are imprisoned has been falling. ''The Economist'' reports that few Somalis were involved in the [[2011 England riots|2011 summer riots]].<ref name="economist.com"/> In March 2019, it was reported that some Somali mothers in London were sending their sons back to Somalia, Somaliland and Kenya to avoid them becoming victims of knife crime.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/09/british-somalis-send-sons-abroad-to-protect-against-knife-crime|title=Mothers send sons to Somalia to avoid knife crime|first=Mark|last=Townsend|work=The Observer|date=9 March 2019|access-date=10 March 2019))</ref>

===Housing===
According to research, in the mid-2000s, over 95 per cent of Somali immigrants in the UK lived in [[Housing tenure|rental accommodation]] and of this group, about 80 per cent lived in [[social housing]].<ref name="IPPR">((cite web|url=http://www.ippr.org/assets/media/images/media/files/publication/2011/05/britains_migrants_1598.pdf?noredirect=1|title=Britain's Immigrants: An economic profile|publisher=[[Institute for Public Policy Research]]|date=30 September 2007|access-date=7 June 2015))</ref>((sfn|Rutter and Latorre|2009|p=25)) This representation is numerically very small in relation to the total number of social tenants in the UK; according to analysis of the Labour Force Survey, in 2007, 72,800 of the 92,200-person Somalia-born community were residing in social housing compared to 8.4 million UK-born social tenants.((sfn|Rutter and Latorre|2009|p=25))

Factors that account for the high uptake of social housing in the community include generally lower household incomes that make it difficult to buy property; a preference for living in London, where property prices are higher and there are proportionately more social tenants from all communities; and a high proportion of new arrivals in the Somali community, with newcomers least likely to have gathered the savings that are required to buy property.((sfn|Rutter and Latorre|2009|p=25)) Another contributing factor is the proportionately larger family sizes for which to find affordable and appropriate accommodation; about 10.8 per cent of Somalia-born households have five or more children as compared to 0.3 per cent of the UK-born population. Foreign-born populations in general tend to have larger families than the UK-born average.((sfn|Rutter and Latorre|2009|p=21))

Most Somalia-born immigrants are eligible for social housing, as they have either refugee status, settled status or citizenship of the UK or another European Economic Area (EEA) state.((sfn|Rutter and Latorre|2009|p=26)) Social housing and support for asylum seekers is allocated by the Home Office.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get|title=Asylum support|publisher=Home Office|date=22 April 2015|access-date=13 June 2015))</ref>

===Educational achievement===
Commentators and policymakers have expressed concern about the poor educational performance of Somali pupils in British schools.<ref name="economist.com"/><ref>((cite web|url=http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFES-0208-2006.pdf|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFES-0208-2006.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 April 2013|title=Ethnicity and Education: The Evidence on Minority Ethnic Pupils aged 5–16|publisher=Department for Education and Skills|year=2006|access-date=12 June 2015|page=55))</ref>((sfn|Demie, Lewis and McLean|2008)) No nationwide statistics are available on the number and educational attainment of Somali pupils in the UK. This is because "Somali" is not a tick-box option in [[Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom|official ethnicity classifications]].((sfn|Demie, Lewis and McLean|2008|p=5)) Consequently, Somali students are often aggregated into a broader "Black African" category in pupil performance data.((sfn|Rutter|2013|p=37))<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.tes.com/article.aspx?storycode=2433074|title=Somali pupils' grades far behind ethnic average|first=Adi|last=Bloom|work=TES|date=7 September 2007|access-date=27 December 2015))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/sep/03/somali-pupils-farah-role-model|title=Mo Farah becomes a role model for Somali school pupils|first=Rachel|last=Williams|work=The Guardian|date=3 September 2012|access-date=27 December 2015))</ref> Some [[local education authorities]] in England make use of so-called "extended ethnicity codes" in order to capture data on more specific groups of pupils, including Somalis. Collating data from local authorities that collect this data, the Institute for Public Policy Research has published statistics on [[GCSE]] performance by extended ethnicity code. According to these statistics, in the school year 2010–11, the proportion of Somali pupils being awarded five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including in mathematics and English, was 23.7 percentage points below the average for all groups of 56.9 per cent.((sfn|Rutter|2013|p=43)) Feyisa Demie of the London Borough of Lambeth's Research and Statistics Unit has used language spoken at home as a proxy for ethnicity, using language data on pupils whose first language is not English, which has been collected in England since 2007. His analysis shows that of the 2,748 pupils classified as Black African and speaking Somali at home taking GCSEs in 2012, 47 per cent gained five or more A*-C grades, compared to 58 per cent of all Black African students and a national average for all pupils of 59 per cent.<ref>((cite journal|title=Language diversity and attainment in schools: implication for policy and practice|first=Feyisa|last=Demie|journal=Race Ethnicity and Education|year=2014|doi=10.1080/13613324.2014.946493|page=8|volume=18|issue=5|s2cid=145623216))</ref>

Demie and colleagues have also analysed data from London local authorities that use extended ethnicity codes. They note that "evidence in London shows a pattern of continuous underachievement of Somali children compared to the national average of White British, African, Caribbean, Indian and other ethnic minority groups", and that Somalis pupils are the lowest attaining group at [[Key Stage 2]], [[Key Stage 3]] and GCSE level in a number of local authorities. They present an average figure for 10 London local authorities, showing that only 34 per cent of Somali pupils gained five or more A*-C GCSEs in 2006.((sfn|Demie, Lewis and McLean|2008|p=6)) The average for Somalis in schools in 28 London local authorities was 43 per cent.((sfn|Demie, Lewis and McLean|2008|p=12)) There was marked variation in these pupils' performance across London. In one local authority, no Somali pupils were awarded five GCSEs at grades A*-C, but in five other local authorities, the proportion achieving this benchmark was between 52 per cent and 69 per cent.((sfn|Demie, Lewis and McLean|2008|p=14))

A number of explanations have been offered for the relatively poor performance of Somali pupils in British schools. These include the fact that many Somalis enter the British education system late due to their arrival as refugees and have had their education interrupted, stereotyping and a lack of cultural awareness on the part of school staff, an inability of parents to offer sufficient support due to lack of knowledge of the system and lack of maternal literacy, poverty and overcrowding in Somali homes, and a lack of [[role model]]s.((sfn|Demie, Lewis and McLean|2008|p=6))((sfn|Open Society Foundations|2014|pp=53–56))((sfn|Rutter|2006|pp=189–191))((sfn|Rutter|2012|p=178)) Lack of English language ability is a key factor. In the [[London Borough of Lambeth]], around 87 per cent of Somali pupils are not fluent in English.((sfn|Demie, Lewis and McLean|2008|p=7))

Significant improvements in the performance of Somali pupils have been observed in some London boroughs. In September 2000, Somali community groups in conjunction with [[Camden London Borough Council|Camden Council]], police and the voluntary sector established the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre in order to provide advice, information and activities for Somali youngsters, with the aim of promoting educational achievement, after only one Somali pupil gained five good GCSEs in the borough that year.<ref name="economist.com"/><ref>((cite web|title=Young Somalis in London gain a voice|url=http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/content/press/2009/january/young-somalis-in-london-gain-a-voice/|publisher=Camden Council|date=22 January 2009|access-date=12 June 2015))</ref> The centre is credited with helping significantly improve Somalis' GCSE performance.<ref name="economist.com">((cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/britain/21583710-somalis-fare-much-worse-other-immigrants-what-holds-them-back-road-long|title=Britain's Somalis: The road is long|newspaper=The Economist|date=17 August 2013|access-date=12 June 2015))</ref> The Camden and [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]] local authorities reported that the performance of their Somali pupils was comparable with the overall student population in those boroughs in the school year 2011–12.((sfn|Open Society Foundations|2014|p=51))

===Health and social services===
Academic research has shown that British Somalis' ability to access healthcare "can be restricted through health service institutions' difficulties in recognising their linguistic and cultural diversity and is limited by combined wider social, political and economic effects".<ref name="PollardKantartzis2018">((cite journal|last1=Pollard|first1=Nick|last2=Kantartzis|first2=Sarah|last3=Ismail|first3=Mubarak Musa|last4=Fransen-Jaïbi|first4=Hetty|last5=Viana-Moldes|first5=Ines|title=The occupation of accessing healthcare and processes of (dis)citizenship in UK Somali migrants: Sheffield case study|journal=World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin|volume=75|issue=1|year=2019|pages=27–33|doi=10.1080/14473828.2018.1434989|s2cid=158666356|url=http://shura.shu.ac.uk/18888/1/Pollard%20occupation%20of%20accessing%20healthcare%20and%20processes%20of%20%28dis%29citizenship.pdf))</ref>

Due uncertainty over what services are available under the [[National Health Service]], how to access that care, and what to expect it from it, Somalis in the Manchester area reportedly often seek medical treatment in [[Germany]]. The German healthcare system was perceived by them as being very professional and responsive, with rapid access to specialist care and modern scanning technology.<ref>((cite news|title=Somali people's healthcare in Manchester NHS|url=http://www.sochealth.co.uk/socialism/discrimination-and-equality-in-health-and-health-services/somali-health-day/|access-date=26 April 2015|publisher=Socialist Health Association|date=20 April 2009))</ref> German doctors have also advertised on Somali television for many years, and this has developed as the main medical tourism route for the Somali communities.<ref>((cite journal|first1=Neil|last1=Lunt|first2=Richard D|last2=Smith|first3=Russell|last3=Mannion|first4=Stephen T|last4=Green|first5=Mark|last5=Exworthy|first6=Johanna|last6=Hanefeld|first7=Daniel|last7=Horsfall|first8=Laura|last8=Machin|first9=Hannah|last9=King|title=Implications for the NHS of inward and outward medical tourism: a policy and economic analysis using literature review and mixed-methods approaches|journal=Health Services and Delivery Research|year=2014|volume=2|issue=2|pages=1–234|doi=10.3310/hsdr02020|pmid=25642508|doi-access=free))</ref> Research conducted with Somali health workers in London has also shown that many Somali women have bad experiences of giving birth in the UK. This can be the result of the mismanagement of care relating to [[female circumcision]] during both pregnancy and labour. The respondents also reported that, in addressing communication barriers, the importance of oral culture amongst Somalis is not sufficiently recognised. Furthermore, Somali women felt that the attitudes of midwives towards them were stereotyped and negative.((sfn|Straus, McEwen and Mohamed Hussein|2009)) Other research has shown that there is a perceived failure of [[social services]] to work with the Somali community in London, and that there is growing mistrust of the motives of social services.((sfn|Adfam|2009|pp=22–23))

Reporting about the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] in April 2020, the BBC stated that the pandemic "has hit the Somali community hard in both economic and human terms", with those dying of the disease including "a disproportionate number of Somalis".<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-52300410|title=Coronavirus: Somali diaspora sends home stories of woe|publisher=BBC News|date=21 April 2020|access-date=21 April 2020))</ref> A June 2020 report in the ''Financial Times'' noted that Somalis had been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, though "[p]recisely how many have died is difficult to ascertain because Somalis do not yet feature as a separate ethnic identity in official UK statistics".<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/aaa2c3cd-eea6-4cfa-a918-9eb7d1c230f4|title=How Somalis in east London were hit by the pandemic|first=William|last=Wallis|work=Financial Times|date=22 June 2020|accessdate=24 October 2021))</ref>

===Female genital mutilation===
((see also|Female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom))
[[Female genital mutilation]] (FGM) is commonplace in Somalia (typically in the form of [[infibulation]]) but is illegal in the UK.((sfn|Straus, McEwen and Mohamed Hussein|2009|p=182))((sfn|Black and Debelle|1995)) [[UNICEF]] estimates that 98 per cent of girls and women aged 15 to 49 in Somalia have experienced FGM.<ref>((cite web|url=http://data.unicef.org/corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_country_profiles/corecode/30/Countries/FGMC_SOM.pdf |title=Somalia: Statistical country profile on female genital mutilation/cutting |publisher=UNICEF |date=December 2013 |page=2 |access-date=15 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030114149/http://data.unicef.org/corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_country_profiles/corecode/30/Countries/FGMC_SOM.pdf |archive-date=30 October 2014 ))</ref> Three doctors working at [[Northwick Park Hospital]] in London, where a significant proportion of African women giving birth were Somali, warned in 1995 that due to growing Somali and Sudanese migrant populations, "the problem of caring for infibulated women will be faced by most midwives and obstetricians at some stage".((sfn|McCaffrey, Jankowska and Gordon|1995|p=789)) Also in 1995, Black and Debelle noted in the ''[[British Medical Journal]]'' "evidence that the operation is being performed illegally in Britain...by medically qualified or unqualified practitioners and that children are being sent abroad for a 'holiday' to have it done".((sfn|Black and Debelle|1995)) This latter practice continues, with children regularly taken to Somalia or Kenya in the school summer holidays for FGM to be undertaken.<ref>((cite news|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-fgm-kenya-idUKKBN0M700I20150311|title=Western girls holiday in Kenya to undergo FGM in secret|first=Katy|last=Migiro|publisher=Reuters|date=11 March 2015|access-date=22 June 2015))</ref><ref name=Chakrabarti>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26049727|title=Female genital mutilation: A family speaks out against the abuse|first=Reeta|last=Chakrabarti|publisher=BBC News|date=5 February 2014|access-date=15 June 2015))</ref><ref name=Topping>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/06/british-somali-young-women-fight-fgm-rhyme-reason|title=Young British-Somali women fight FGM with rhyme and reason|first=Alexandra|last=Topping|work=The Guardian|date=6 February 2014|access-date=15 June 2015))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/2673/the-cutting-season-female-genital-mutilation-and-the-uk|title=The cutting season: Female Genital Mutilation and the UK|first=Alice|last=Onwordi|work=New Humanist|date=27 October 2011|access-date=22 June 2015))</ref> Estimates published in July 2014 suggest that the vast majority of Somali-born women in Britain have undergone FGM.((sfn|Macfarlane and Dorkenoo|2014|p=14)) The report, by Alison Macfarlane and [[Efua Dorkenoo]], notes that some members of migrant groups continue to support FGM once in the UK, although younger generations are most likely to be opposed to it.((sfn|Macfarlane and Dorkenoo|2014|p=8)) A study published in 2004, based on research with a sample of young Somalis in London, found that 70 per cent of the females reported having been circumcised, two-thirds of these by infibulation. Of those who were already living in Britain before the usual age of FGM being performed, only 42 per cent had undergone the practice, whereas amongst those who moved to the UK after this age, the proportion was 91 per cent. The study also found that these younger people reported having less traditional views on FGM than their parents. 18 per cent of the female respondents and 43 of the males said that they intended to circumcise any daughters that they had.<ref>((cite journal|first1=Linda A.|last1=Morison|first2=Ahmed|last2=Dirir|first3=Sada|last3=Elmi|first4=Jama|last4=Warsame|first5=Shamis|last5=Dirir|title=How Experiences and Attitudes Relating to Female Circumcision Vary According to Age on Arrival in Britain: A Study Among Young Somalis in London|journal=Ethnicity & Health|volume=9|issue=1|year=2004|pages=75–100|doi=10.1080/1355785042000202763|pmid=15203466|s2cid=10551013))</ref> Some Somali women in the UK, particularly of younger generations, have spoken out publicly and campaigned against the practice.<ref name=Chakrabarti/><ref name=Topping/><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/28/fahma-mohamed-michael-gove-teach-female-genital-mutilation-class|title=Fahma Mohamed: the shy campaigner who fought for FGM education|first=Alexandra|last=Topping|work=The Guardian|date=28 February 2014|access-date=15 June 2015))</ref>

Research conducted by academics from the University of Bristol and Cardiff University in 2018 found that the Somalis included in the study were committed to the ending of FGM practices, but they felt traumatised and victimised by FGM safeguarding policies. The researchers noted that Somalis "felt distrusted, their intentions suspected and their needs ignored. There was a sense that the whole Somali community was unfairly targeted and had become a 'suspect community'...: a group considered by the state to be suspicious despite there being no evidence of criminal involvement. Participants also described FGM-safeguarding policy as inherently racist and gave examples of how wider debates on FGM directly contributed to experiences of racist violence from the public".<ref>((cite web|url=http://orca.cf.ac.uk/120677/1/Policy%20Report%2046%20Feb%2019%20FGM%20Safeguarding.pdf|title="Stigmatising" and "traumatising" approaches to FGM-safeguarding need urgent review|first1=Saffron|last1=Karlsen|first2=Natasha|last2=Carver|first3=Magda|last3=Mogilnicka|first4=Christina|last4=Pantazis|publisher=PolicyBristol|date=March 2019|access-date=27 April 2020))</ref>

===Khat use===
[[Khat]] is a plant that is mainly grown in [[East Africa]] and the [[Middle East]]. Its leaves are chewed for their stimulating properties, primarily by people from these regions. Within Somali culture especially, khat chewing has a long history as a social custom that traditionally brings people together to relax and to encourage conversation. Some people also use it to help them stay alert during work or school. Ordinarily, khat use would be limited to specific periods of the day and session durations.<ref name="Home Office khat study">((cite web|url=http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/rdsolr4705.pdf |title=Khat use among Somalis in four English cities |first1=Shilpa L. |last1=Patel |first2=Sam |last2=Wright |first3=Alex |last3=Gammampila |publisher=[[Home Office]] |work=Online Report 47/05 |year=2005 |access-date=7 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705045707/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/rdsolr4705.pdf |archive-date=5 July 2010 ))</ref> A 2007 source reports that khat was readily available at that time in ((transl|so|mafrishes)), commercial establishments where the substance was sold and chewed.<ref name=Klein>((Cite book|chapter-url=http://www.radcliffe-oxford.com/books/samplechapter/0932/Chapt5-25459c40rdz.pdf|chapter=Khat and the creation of tradition in the Somali diaspora|first=Axel|last=Klein|pages=[https://archive.org/details/drugsinsocietyeu0000unse/page/51 51–61]|title=Drugs in Society: European Perspectives|editor=Fountain, Jane|editor2=Korf, Dirk J.|year=2007|location=Oxford|publisher=Radcliffe Publishing|isbn=978-1-84619-093-3|url=https://archive.org/details/drugsinsocietyeu0000unse/page/51))</ref> Within the Somali community as well as other groups with khat-chewing traditions, the activity was generally perceived as legitimate and not censured like alcohol and illegal drug use are within those same communities.<ref name="Home Office khat study"/> In June 2014, khat use was made illegal in the UK.<ref name="legislation"/>
   
Prior to the ban, some commentators, health professionals and community members expressed concerns about the long-term effects of the use of khat by Somalis in the UK, suggesting that excessive use has a negative social and health impact on the community.<ref name=Klein/> One review of studies of the effects of khat use by Somalis and other immigrants on their mental health suggested that there was a need for better research on khat-chewing and its possible link with psychiatric disorders; it also suggested that public discourse on the issue displayed elements of a [[moral panic]].<ref name=Warfa>((Cite journal|title=Khat use and mental illness: A critical review|first1=Nasir|last1=Warfa|first2=Axel|last2=Klein|first3=Kamaldeep|last3=Bhui|first4=Gerard|last4=Leavey|first5=Tom|last5=Craig|first6=Stephen Alfred|last6=Stansfeld|journal=Social Science & Medicine|year=2007|volume=65|issue=2|pmid=17544193|pages=309–318|doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.04.038))</ref> Some Somali community organisations also campaigned for khat to be banned.<ref>((Cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2009/0508/p06s04-woeu.html|title=More Somali migrants say Britain should ban khat|first=Aidan|last=Jones|work=[[Christian Science Monitor]]|date=8 May 2009|access-date=7 August 2010))</ref> As a result of these concerns, the [[Home Office]] commissioned successive research studies to look into the matter, and in 2005, presented the question of khat's legal status before the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. After a careful review of the evidence, the expert committee recommended in January 2006 that the status of khat as a legal substance should remain for the time being.<ref name=Klein/>
   
In 2005, the Home Office issued a report on research examining the level and nature of the use of khat by Somalis in four English cities; Birmingham, Bristol, London and Sheffield. It found that 38 per cent of the respondents had ever used khat in their lifetime, with 58 per cent of men and only 16 per cent of women reporting having ever used it. 34 per cent of the overall sample indicated that they had chewed khat the month before, with 51 per cent all men in the study and 14 per cent of the women having done so. Some reported family tensions arising from their khat use. 49 per cent of those surveyed were in favour of banning khat, with 35 opposed, but the report suggested that this would not be effective. Three-quarters of participants who had used khat reported having suffered health effects, although these were mostly mild in nature, with the most common symptoms respondents associated with khat use being sleeping difficulties, loss of appetite, and an urge to chew more khat. The study concluded that most of the participants who were using khat were using it moderately in terms of both the quantity used and the frequency and duration of chewing sessions, and that khat use was typically a social activity. Only a small minority of the study participants' khat use was judged to be excessive.<ref name="Home Office khat study"/> In January 2013, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs also again cited insufficient evidence that the plant caused serious health or societal problems to warrant governmental control.<ref name="Ukdradrekb">((cite news|title=UK drug advisers reject khat ban|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21165676|access-date=22 May 2013|publisher=BBC|date=23 January 2013))</ref>

In 2008, [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician [[Sayeeda Warsi]] stated that a future Conservative government would ban khat.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jun/15/drugspolicy.somalia|title=Conservatives will ban khat|first=Sayeeda|last=Warsi|work=The Guardian|date=15 June 2008|access-date=19 July 2015))</ref> Following lobbying by Somali community groups, in July 2013 it was announced that khat was to be classified as a [[class C drug]] and therefore banned.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23163017|title=Herbal stimulant khat to be banned|publisher=BBC News|date=3 July 2013|access-date=5 July 2013))</ref> Khat was officially made illegal in the UK in June 2014.<ref name="legislation">((cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1376/introduction/made|title=The Misuse of Drugs (Designation) (Amendment) (No. 2) (England, Wales and Scotland) Order 2014|publisher=legislation.gov.uk|access-date=28 June 2014))</ref><ref name="BBC News">((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-27991393?print=true|title=Stimulant khat banned as illegal class C drug in UK|publisher=BBC News|date=24 June 2014|access-date=3 February 2015))</ref> This move was welcomed by some Somali groups,<ref name="BBC News"/> and the Home Office minister responsible for overseeing the ban stated: "We took the decision based on the strong views of the Somali community, particularly the mums and wives. They felt that khat was stopping the Somali community from integrating; it was distracting the husbands and sons from getting the education and the jobs that their wives and mothers desperately wanted them to get".<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27921832|title=Khat ban: Why is it being made illegal?|first=Naomi|last=Grimley|publisher=BBC News|date=21 June 2014|access-date=24 June 2015))</ref> Criticising the ban, House of Commons [[Home Affairs Select Committee]] stated that it "was based not on any evidence of medical or social harm caused by its consumption, but by a desire to avoid the UK becoming a hub for the illegal importation of khat into other EU countries".<ref>((cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmhaff/869/86907.htm|title=Home Affairs Committee – Eleventh Report: Khat|publisher=Parliament|date=29 November 2013|access-date=24 June 2015))</ref>

=== Forced marriage ===
According to data published by the British government's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), a joint effort between the [[Home Office]] and the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]], of the 91 cases that related to Somalia in 2017, 71.4 per cent involved victims who were female and 28.6 per cent male, 25.3 per cent were under the age of 15 and another 29.7 per cent were aged 16–17. Approximately 75 per cent of the victims were already overseas when they contacted the FMU. The number of cases relating to Somalia reported to the FMU in 2017 was more than twice the number recorded in 2016. The 91 cases represented 7.6 per cent of all cases referred to the FMU, where Somalia had the third highest number of cases after [[British Pakistanis|Pakistan]] and Bangladesh.<ref>((Cite book|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/730155/2017_FMU_statistics_FINAL.pdf|title=Forced Marriage Unit Statistics 2017|publisher=[[Home Office]] & [[Foreign & Commonwealth Office]]|date=16 March 2018|pages=3, 14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804150819/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/730155/2017_FMU_statistics_FINAL.pdf|archive-date=4 August 2018))</ref>

==Community==

===Community organisations===
[[File:Poplar, Follett Street, E14 (1) - geograph.org.uk - 934243.jpg|thumb|right|A Somali community centre in [[London]]'s [[East End]] (yellow brick building in the middle).]]
In 2011, the [[Council of Somali Organisations]] (CSO) was established to collectively represent Somali community institutions, to coordinate their activities, and improve their operational effectiveness.<ref name="CSO">((cite web|url=http://www.councilofsomaliorgs.com/node/32|title=About CSO|publisher=Council of Somali Organisations|access-date=13 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615094048/http://www.councilofsomaliorgs.com/node/32|archive-date=15 June 2015|url-status=dead))</ref> Prior to the establishment of the CSO, research had shown that the lack of a central organisation of Somalis enabling them to voice opinions had rendered them invisible to many policymakers. Somalis in London tend to exist in small communities that are scattered across the capital. Researchers have contrasted this with the [[British Bangladeshi]] community, which is more concentrated and, it is argued, therefore has a greater capacity to express a "common voice".((sfn|Adfam|2009|p=10)) Research by the Shire Foundation has identified 131 Somali community organisations in London.((sfn|Adfam|2009|p=10)) Based on interviews with Somali women refugees in London, academic Gail Hopkins argued in 2006 that Somalis were poorly represented by existing [[black and minority ethnic]] (BME) organisations, and notes that her interviewees saw themselves as more closely aligned with Arab populations than with Africans and African-Caribbeans. Somalis feel that they are regarded as part of the BME population, but that BME organisations are unaware of their particular needs as a community. Hopkins's interviewees were concerned about the ability of specifically Somali organisations to represent the community, due to clan tensions amongst Somalis.((sfn|Hopkins|2006|pp=368–369)) ((As of|2012|02)), the CSO represented 30 individual Somali organisations. It took four years to set up the umbrella organisation, and this has been attributed in part to a cultural suspicion of hierarchy.<ref name=Muir2012>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/feb/21/somali-community-britain-finds-voice|title=Somali community in Britain begins to find its voice|first=Hugh|last=Muir|work=The Guardian|date=21 February 2012|access-date=13 June 2015))</ref> A previous Somali umbrella organisation, the Somali London Community Cultural Association, was formed in the 1970s but collapsed in 1995.<ref>((cite journal|title=Fragmentation and Consolidation: the Contrasting Cases of Somali and Kurdish Refugees in London|first=David J.|last=Griffiths|journal=Journal of Refugee Studies|volume=13|issue=3|pages=281–302|year=2000|doi=10.1093/jrs/13.3.281))</ref>

The [[Anti-Tribalism Movement]] (ATM) was established in London in 2010, with the aim of combatting clan-based discrimination in Britain and in Somalia.<ref name=ATM>((cite web|url=http://www.theatm.org/about-us/|title=About us|publisher=Anti-Tribalism Movement|access-date=24 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625013207/http://www.theatm.org/about-us/|archive-date=25 June 2015|url-status=dead))</ref> In 2011, Reuters reported that the organisation claimed to have 53,000 followers, most of them based in Somalia.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-somalia-clans-idUSTRE7B70IU20111208|title=Somali group fights tribalism in diaspora|first=William|last=Maclean|publisher=Reuters|date=8 December 2011|access-date=24 June 2015))</ref> ((As of|2015)), the ATM claims to have 130,000 members worldwide.<ref name=ATM/>

===Involvement in politics===
[[File:Markhendrick2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mark Hendrick]] serves as a [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] and a member of the [[Foreign Affairs Select Committee]].]]
[[Mark Hendrick]], who is of Anglo-Somali descent, previously served as a member of the [[European Parliament]] before being elected a [[Labour Co-operative]] [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] in a [[2000 Preston by-election|by-election in 2000]].<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/mark-hendrick/473|title=Mark Hendrick|publisher=[[Houses of Parliament]]|access-date=11 May 2015))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2000/oct/25/uk.labour|title=Former MEP wins Labour poll nomination|first=Martin|last=Wainwright|work=The Guardian|date=25 October 2000|access-date=7 August 2010 | location=London))</ref>

The Somali community has become increasingly engaged in local politics.<ref name="Hayat">((Cite news| date = 17 June 2010 | title = كيف ينشط نوابٌ وأعضاءُ مجالس في بريطانيا جذورُهُم عربية؟  | url = http://international.daralhayat.com/internationalarticle/153308 |trans-title=Mixed results in the British general and local elections for candidates of Middle Eastern origin | work = [[Al-Hayat]] | access-date = 5 August 2010))</ref> Mohamed "Jimmy" Ali became the UK's first Somali [[councillor]] in 2004.<ref name=Casciani/> Councillor Ahmed Omer, who was the [[Mayors in England|civic mayor]] of [[List of mayors of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]] in 2009/10<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/tower-hamlets-exmayor-received-summons-for-not-paying-council-tax-8639143.html|title=Tower Hamlets' ex-mayor received summons for not paying council tax|work=Evening Standard|first=Pippa|last=Crerar|date=31 May 2013|access-date=20 May 2015))</ref> (a largely ceremonial post made by appointment rather than through direct election<ref>((cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7y3AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA279|title=Exploring British Politics|first1=Mark|last1=Garnett|first2=Philip|last2=Lynch|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon|year=2013|isbn=9781408263655|page=279))</ref>), was the first Somali to be appointed to the annual position in London and England.<ref>((cite web|title=Agenda, decisions and minutes, Council, Wednesday, 26th May, 2010 7.30 p.m. – ELECTION OF MAYOR|url=http://modgov.towerhamlets.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=309&MId=2726|publisher=Tower Hamlets Council|access-date=4 May 2015|archive-date=5 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505055234/http://modgov.towerhamlets.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=309&MId=2726|url-status=dead))</ref><ref>((cite web|title=Ahmed Omer Becomes the East End's First Civic Mayor|url=http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2009/379/11.shtml|work=Somaliland Times|access-date=4 May 2015))</ref> Around 17 Somali candidates stood in the [[2010 United Kingdom local elections|2010 local elections]]. Of these, at least seven Somali councillors were elected,<ref name="Hayat"/> including Gulaid Abdullah Ahmed,<ref>((Cite news|url=http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/council/elections/results/council/may_2010/acton_central.html|title=Acton Central: Declaration of result of poll for the local council election 6 May 2010|publisher=London Borough of Ealing Council|access-date=7 August 2010))</ref> Abdifatah Aden,<ref>((Cite news|url=http://www.brent.gov.uk/home.nsf/Files/LBBA-101/$FILE/Barnhill.pdf|title=Local Elections 6 May 2010: Barnhill|publisher=London Borough of Brent Council|access-date=7 August 2010))</ref> Awale Olad,<ref>((Cite news|url=http://www3.camden.gov.uk/votes/?page_id=26 |title=Holborn and Covent Garden |publisher=[[Camden London Borough Council]] |access-date=7 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001232701/http://www3.camden.gov.uk/votes/?page_id=26 |archive-date=1 October 2011 ))</ref> and Abdul Mohamed of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]],<ref>((Cite news|url=http://www.southwark.gov.uk/site/custom_scripts/viewelection.php?pollid=3|title=Election results for Faraday Ward|publisher=[[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark Council]]|access-date=7 August 2010))</ref> as well as Asad Osman of the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]], a former chairman of the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre.<ref name="Hayat"/><ref>((Cite news|url=http://menmedia.co.uk/middletonguardian/news/politics/local_elections/1_Manchester|title=Local elections|work=Middleton Guardian|access-date=7 August 2010))</ref> In the [[2014 United Kingdom local elections|2014 local elections]], nine Somali councillors were also elected to office.<ref name="Arnbsceiule">((cite news|title=A Record 9 British-Somali Councillors Elected in UK Local Elections|url=http://www.waryapost.com/record-9-british-somali-councillors-elected-uk-local-elections/|access-date=2 February 2015|agency=Warya Post|date=6 June 2014))</ref> Among the officials was Hibaq Jama, a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] Ward [[Bristol City Council|Councillor]] for [[Lawrence Hill, Bristol|Lawrence Hill]], who is Bristol's first Somali woman councillor,<ref name="Lblwf">((cite web|title=Bristol Labour Women's Forum|url=http://www.labourbristol.org/node/181|publisher=Labour Bristol|access-date=2 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219015627/http://www.labourbristol.org/node/181|archive-date=19 February 2015))</ref> as well as Amina Ali, a Labour Party Ward Councillor for Tower Hamlets, who in February 2015 became the first Somali woman to be selected to contest a seat in the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]].<ref name="Ggbthbwflaaiagp">((cite news|title=George Galloway's Battle To Hold Bradford West From Labour's Amina Ali Is Already Getting Personal|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/02/21/george-galloway-amina-ali_n_6727514.html|access-date=4 May 2015|agency=Huffington Post|date=21 February 2015))</ref> Ali was chosen from a shortlist of three women but resigned three days later, indicating that she did not want to disrupt her children's upbringing by moving residences.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-31619663|title=Amina Ali, Bradford West's Labour candidate, withdraws|publisher=BBC News|date=25 February 2015|access-date=11 May 2015))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/25/labour-candidate-chosen-to-face-galloway-resigns-after-three-days|title=Labour candidate chosen to face George Galloway resigns after three days|first=Helen|last=Pidd|work=The Guardian|date=25 February 2015|access-date=11 May 2015))</ref> For the 2015 elections, Somali community activists in Bristol set up a taskforce to encourage British Somalis to vote.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-england-32335637|title=Election 2015: Bristol taskforce aims to 'make Somali votes matter'|first=Caroline|last=Le Marechal|publisher=BBC News|date=2 May 2015|access-date=11 May 2015))</ref> In 2018, former Somali refugee Magid Magid was appointed as [[Lord Mayor of Sheffield]], a ceremonial position held by a member of the city council. Magid was elected as a [[Green Party (UK)|Green Party]] councillor for Broomhill and Sharrow Vale in 2016.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-44144705|title=Former refugee Magid Magid takes up Sheffield Lord Mayor post|publisher=BBC News|date=17 May 2018|access-date=17 May 2018))</ref>

Amina Ali argues that Somali women have brought a "strong sense of political participation and activism" with them to Britain, rooted in a tradition of female engagement in politics in Somalia. In the UK, she argues that they find themselves excluded from the political process. Early Somali community groups, Ali states, were often headed by women and it was these groups that often introduced Somali women to British politics and "pointed them in the direction of the Labour party as the party for 'people like us to vote for'". She argues that despite this party loyalty, Labour has taken the Somali vote for granted and not engaged with or sought to understand the needs of the Somali community. She complains that Labour MPs in constituencies with large Somali populations have wrongly assumed that since the community is Muslim, they should engage with male community members only, and that even Somali men complain about a lack of engagement. In the run-up to the 2015 general election, Ali argued that Labour MPs in marginal constituencies "are slowly coming to the realisation that the Somali vote matters".<ref>((cite news|url=http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2013/08/30/somali-women-in-the-labour-party/|title=Somali women in the Labour party|publisher=Progress|first=Amina|last=Ali|date=30 August 2013|access-date=7 June 2015))</ref>

===Transnational activism===
Academic Laura Hammond argues that the Somali British community's transnational activism responded effectively to the [[2011 East Africa drought|2011 drought]] in East Africa, with members quickly mobilizing resources in the form of increased remittances to support family members in Somalia. They also pooled funds to support NGOs working in camps for displaced persons in Mogadishu, [[Ethiopia]] and [[Kenya]].<ref name="Hammond"/> A survey conducted by Hammond in South-Central Somalia also found that 68.2 per cent of providers of social services there were returnees.<ref name=Hammond/>

In February 2012, the British government held a consultation with representatives of the UK's Somali diaspora based around the [[London Somalia Conference]]'s three main themes of political transition, security and the role of Somalia's regions. The summit was held later the same month in conjunction with the [[Federal Government of Somalia]].<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/182218|title=Africa Programme Meeting Summary: British Government Consultation with the UK-based Somali Diaspora|publisher=Chatham House|date=8 February 2012|access-date=11 May 2015))</ref> Additionally, Somalis with dual Somali-British citizenship have significantly contributed to the reconstruction process in Somalia, particularly to the nation's reconstituted political system. ((As of|2017)), 29 of the 275 Members of the [[Federal Parliament of Somalia]] held British passports.<ref>((cite news|url=https://qz.com/africa/922449/the-fate-of-fragile-somalia-is-now-in-the-hands-of-a-remarkably-young-diverse-parliament/|title=The fate of fragile Somalia is now in the hands of a remarkably young, diverse parliament|first=Abdi Latif|last=Dahir|work=Quartz Africa|date=2 March 2017|access-date=22 May 2020))</ref> In June 2014, Somalia's foreign minister, [[Abdirahman Duale Beyle]], called on members of the Somali diaspora in the UK to return home to help rebuild the country.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/somalia/10894243/Somali-minister-tells-British-Somalis-forget-the-danger-come-back-and-help-rebuild.html|title=Somali minister tells British Somalis: forget the danger, come back and help rebuild|first=Colin|last=Freeman|work=Daily Telegraph|date=12 June 2014|access-date=12 June 2015))</ref>

==Business and enterprise==
[[File:Aaranrestsom.jpg|thumb|right|A Somali restaurant in the [[London Borough of Waltham Forest]].]]
Somalis have a strong tradition in trade, with a long [[Maritime history of Somalia|history of maritime enterprise]] stretching back to antiquity that includes possible [[commerce]] with [[Prehistoric Britain|ancient Britons]] based on rare commodities such as [[tin]].<ref name="Jbell">((Cite book|first=James|last=Bell|title=A system of geography, popular and scientific, or, a physical, political, and statistical account of the world and its various divisions|location=Glasgow|publisher=A. Fullarton and Co.|year=1832|page=434))</ref> In recent times, several Somali [[Multinational corporation|multinational companies]] have their headquarters in the UK, such as [[Omar A. Ali]]'s Integrated Property Investments Limited,<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/-/2560/521896/-/view/printVersion/-/amphwp/-/index.html|title=Dar housing project gets $6.2m boost from Shelter Afrique|first=Kaburu |last=Mugambi|work=[[The EastAfrican]]|date=30 January 2009|access-date=4 August 2010))</ref> Alexander Yusuf's Villa and Mansion Architects, and Invicta Capital, which has an investment capital of £1.4 billion.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.invictacapital.co.uk/html/about_us |title=About us |publisher=Invicta Capital |access-date=7 August 2010 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310062030/http://www.invictacapital.co.uk/html/about_us |archive-date=10 March 2012 ))</ref> A 2008 study on immigrant business in Britain highlighted that the level of community support enjoyed by Somali traders was high in comparison to other immigrant groups.<ref>((Cite journal|url=http://www.mdx.ac.uk/Assets/Ethnic_Min_Bus_Commu.pdf|title=New BME Business Communities in Britain: Challenges of diversity for business support policy|date=November 2008|first1=Leandro|last1=Sepulveda|first2=Stephen|last2=Syrett|first3=Fergus|last3=Lyon|journal=Working Paper Series|volume=1|publisher=Social Policy Research Centre, [[Middlesex University]]|access-date=4 August 2010))</ref> In some areas, Somali enterprise has also begun replacing previously [[India]]n-dominated business premises. [[Southall]], for example, now features several Somali-oriented restaurants and cafés.<ref name="McHafeez">((cite conference|last1=McEvoy|first1=David|last2=Hafeez|first2=Khalid|title=The changing face of ethnic minority entrepreneurship in Britain|conference=4th Interdisciplinary European Conference on Entrepreneurship Research, [[University of Regensburg]]|date=February 2006))</ref>

A study on Somali business owners in Leicester found that they were highly motivated and wielded substantial social capital. The researchers suggested that this in turn made it easier for the entrepreneurs to establish themselves in the area, hire personnel, exchange information regarding local business opportunities, and pool funds. They argued that this was contingent upon under-capitalization, market barriers and related spatial and sectoral restrictions. Consequently, the Somali establishments followed what they posited was the standard ethnic minority business paradigm of being mainly concentrated in very competitive markets, with finite return on investment and uncertain durability.<ref name="Ram"/>

===Networks===
The Somali diaspora is inter-connected via information exchange and informal money transfer systems.<ref name="Ram">((cite journal|title=Forms of capital, mixed embeddedness and Somali enterprise|journal=Work, Employment & Society|first1=Monder|last1=Ram|first2=Nicholas|last2=Theodorakopoulos|first3=Trevor|last3=Jones|volume=22|issue=3|pages=427–446|year=2008|doi=10.1177/0950017008093479|s2cid=154816415))</ref> Somalis in the UK operates various business networks, with the Somaliland Chamber of Commerce having an office locally. Another Somali business network, the Midlands Somali Business Association, a non-profit organisation centered in Birmingham, offers commercial advice to Somali businesses based in the city. It also publishes a quarterly newsletter and runs workshops and conferences for the local Somali business community. Additionally, the number of Somali businesses in the UK is increasing, ranging from [[restaurant]]s, [[remittance]] companies, [[hairdressing salon]]s and [[Travel agency|travel agencies]] to, especially, [[internet café]]s. Although some of these businesses cater to mainstream British society, most are aimed at a Somali clientele. The Midlands Somali Business Association has recognised the potential benefits of penetrating the larger British business community, and is encouraging stakeholders to tap into this sector. The organisation is also exploring opportunities for transnational businesses.<ref name="UKSRS">((cite web|url=http://www.diaspora-centre.org/DOCS/UK_Somali_Remittan.pdf|title=UK Somali Remittances Survey|first1=Mohamed Aden|last1=Hassan|first2=Caitlin|last2=Chalmers|location=London|publisher=Profile Business Intelligence/[[Department for International Development]]|date=May 2008|access-date=7 August 2010|archive-date=9 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109191722/http://www.diaspora-centre.org/DOCS/UK_Somali_Remittan.pdf|url-status=dead))</ref>

In 2014, the Fiiri Bandhiga entrepreneurial convention was also launched in London to showcase young Somali-owned businesses in the UK.<ref name="Ydsrer">((cite news|title=Young diaspora Somalis rediscovering entrepreneurial roots|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-29185935?print=true|access-date=2 February 2015|agency=BBC|date=18 September 2014))</ref>

===Money transfer operators===
[[File:Dahabshiil.gif|thumb|right|[[Dahabshiil]]]]
Some Somali businesses with a presence in the UK, particularly in the remittance sector, already operate internationally. The latter include [[Dahabshiil]], ((Not a typo|Qaran)) Express, Mustaqbal, Amal Express, Kaah Express, Hodan Global, Olympic, Amana Express, Iftin Express and Tawakal Express. Most are credentialed members of the Somali Money Transfer Association (SOMTA) (or its predecessor, the Somali Financial Services Association (SFSA)), an umbrella organisation that regulates the community's [[Wire transfer|money transfer]] sector. The bulk of remittances are sent by Somalis to relatives in Somalia, a practice which has had a stimulating effect on that country's economy.<ref name="UKSRS"/>

Dahabshiil is the largest of the Somali money transfer operators (MTO), having captured most of the market vacated by [[Al-Barakaat]]. The firm has its headquarters in London and employs more than 2000 people across 144 countries, with 130 branches in the UK alone, a further 130 branches in Somalia, and 400 branches globally, including one in [[Dubai]].<ref name="UKSRS"/><ref name="Towhamrec">((Cite news|url=http://www.threcorder.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/recorder/news/story.aspx?brand=REConline&category=newsTowerHam&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newstower&itemid=WeED13%20Apr%202010%2010%3A02%3A08%3A730|title=Decades of community service recognised with award|work=Tower Hamlets Recorder|date=13 April 2007|access-date=3 June 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511205333/http://www.threcorder.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/recorder/news/story.aspx?brand=REConline&category=newsTowerHam&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newstower&itemid=WeED13%20Apr%202010%2010%3A02%3A08%3A730|archive-date=11 May 2011))</ref> It invests 5 per cent of its profits into community projects aimed at improving schools, hospitals, agriculture and sanitation services, and sponsors a number of social events, including the Somali Week Festival and the Somali Youth Sports Association, which help to promote understanding and cooperation through Somali art and culture and sport, respectively.<ref name="Towhamrec"/> In 2008, Dahabshiil's CEO, [[Abdirashid Duale]], a Somali who has British citizenship, was awarded Top Manager of the Year by the International Association of Money Transfer Networks in recognition of the services the firm offers its clients.<ref name="Forbes">((Cite news|url=http://www.forbescustom.com/EmergingMarketsPgs/AbdirashidDualeInterviewP1.html |title=Freeing Finance: If money makes the world go round, Dahabshiil CEO Abdirashid Duale makes sure it goes to the right people |last=Trustfull |first=Paul |work=[[Forbes]] |access-date=3 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106131406/http://www.forbescustom.com/EmergingMarketsPgs/AbdirashidDualeInterviewP1.html |archive-date=6 January 2012 ))</ref> This was followed in 2010 with the Mayor of Tower Hamlets award for excellence in the community, which recognises the "outstanding contribution" Dahabshiil has made to the local, national and international Somali community over the last 40 years.<ref name="Towhamrec"/>

After Dahabshiil, ((Not a typo|Qaran)) Express is the largest Somali-owned funds transfer company. The firm has its headquarters in both London and Dubai, with 175 agents worldwide, 64 agents in London and 66 in Somalia, and charges nothing for remitting [[Charitable organization|charity]] funds. Mustaqbal is the third most prominent Somali MTO with branches in the UK, having 49 agents in the UK and 8 agents in Somalia.<ref name="UKSRS"/>

==Notable people==
* See [[List of British Somalis]]

==See also==
((Portal|Somalia|United Kingdom))
*[[Somali diaspora]]
*[[Somalia-United Kingdom relations]]
*[[Black British people]]

==Notes==
((Reflist|group="nb"))

==References==
((reflist|colwidth=30em))

==Sources==
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Adfam|2009))|url=http://www.adfam.org.uk/cms/docs/becoming_visible.pdf|title=Becoming visible: The Somali community and substance use in London|publisher=Adfam|year=2009|access-date=7 June 2015))
* ((Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/culturecustomsof00diri |url-access=registration| publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] | first=Mohamed Diriye|last=Abdullahi | title=Culture and Customs of Somalia | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-313-31333-2)) <!-- Abdullahi -->
* ((cite journal|ref=((harvid|Black and Debelle|1995))|first1=J.A.|last1=Black|first2=G.D.|last2=Debelle|title=Female genital mutilation in Britain|journal=British Medical Journal|volume=310|issue=6994|year=1995|pages=1590–1592|doi=10.1136/bmj.310.6994.1590|pmid=7787654|pmc=2549951))
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Office for National Statistics|2014))|title=2011 Census Analysis: How do Living Arrangements, Family Type and Family Size Vary in England and Wales?|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_366963.pdf|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=24 June 2014|access-date=21 May 2015))
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Demie, Lewis and McLean|2008))|first1=Feyisa|last1=Demie|first2=Kirstin|last2=Lewis|first3=Christabel|last3=McLean|title=Raising Achievement of Somali Pupils: Good Practice in London Schools|url=http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/rsu/sites/lambeth.gov.uk.rsu/files/Raising_Achievement_of_Somali_Pupils_Good_Practice_in_London_Schools_2008.pdf|publisher=Lambeth Research and Statistics Unit|date=March 2008|access-date=14 June 2015))
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Office for National Statistics|2009))|title=Final recommended questions for the 2011 Census in England and Wales: Ethnic group|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/the-2011-census/2011-census-questionnaire-content/final-recommended-questions-2011---ethnic-group.pdf|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=October 2009|access-date=15 June 2015))
* ((Cite book|last=Harris| first=Hermione| url=http://www.icar.org.uk/somalicommunityreport.pdf|title=The Somali community in the UK: What we know and how we know it |  location=London|publisher=[[Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees]] (ICAR) | date=June 2004|access-date=13 September 2013|isbn=0-9547024-4-1)) <!-- Harris -->
*((Cite journal|title=Somali community organizations in London and Toronto: Collaboration and effectiveness|journal=Journal of Refugee Studies|volume=19|issue=3|pages=361–380|year=2006|first=Gail|last=Hopkins|doi=10.1093/jrs/fel013))
*((cite web|ref=((harvid|Khan and Jones|2002))|url=http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=83442|title=Somalis in Camden: challenges faced by an emerging community|publisher=London Borough of Camden|first1=Saber|last1=Khan|first2=Adrian|last2=Jones|year=2002|access-date=19 July 2015))
* ((Cite journal|last=Kleist | first=Nauja | title=Nomads, sailors and refugees: A century of Somali migration | publisher=Sussex Centre for Migration Research, [[University of Sussex]] | year=2004 | journal=Sussex Migration Working Paper | volume=23| url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/migration/documents/mwp23.pdf | access-date=30 June 2010)) <!-- Kleist -->
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Macfarlane and Dorkenoo|2014))|url=http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/FGM%20EN%20City%20Estimates.pdf|title=Female Genital Mutilation in England and Wales: Updated statistical estimates of the numbers of affected women living in England and Wales and girls at risk – Interim report on provisional estimates|first1=Alison|last1=Macfarlane|first2=Efua|last2=Dorkenoo|publisher=City University London and Equality Now|date=21 July 2014|access-date=15 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517060049/http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/FGM%20EN%20City%20Estimates.pdf|archive-date=17 May 2017|url-status=dead))
* ((cite journal|ref=((harvid|McCaffrey, Jankowska and Gordon|1995))|first1=M.|last1=McCaffrey|first2=A.|last2=Jankowska|first3=H.|last3=Gordon|title=Management of female genital mutilation: the Northwick Park Hospital experience|journal=British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology|volume=102|issue=10|year=1995|pages=787–790|doi=10.1111/j.1471-0528.1995.tb10843.x|pmid=7547734|s2cid=21558470))
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|International Organization for Migration|2006))|url=http://www.iomlondon.org/doc/mapping/IOM_SOMALI_MR.pdf|title=Somali regions: Mapping exercise|publisher=[[International Organization for Migration]]| location=London|date=June 2006|access-date=3 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716163751/http://www.iomlondon.org/doc/mapping/IOM_SOMALI_MR.pdf|archive-date=16 July 2011)) <!-- IOM -->
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Open Society Foundations|2014))|title=Somalis in London|publisher=Open Society Foundations|year=2014|url=http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/somalis-london-20141010.pdf|access-date=14 June 2015))
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Communities and Local Government|2009)) |url=http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/1210847.pdf |publisher=[[Department for Communities and Local Government]] |title=The Somali Muslim Community in England: Understanding Muslim Ethnic Communities  |date=April 2009 |access-date=13 September 2013 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/1210847.pdf |archive-date=19 September 2012 )) <!-- Community -->
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees|2007))|url=http://www.icar.org.uk/ICAR_briefing_on_Somali_Community.pdf|title=The Somali Refugee Community in the UK|work=ICAR briefing|location=London|publisher=Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees|page=4|date=July 2007|access-date=12 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614210726/http://www.icar.org.uk/ICAR_briefing_on_Somali_Community.pdf|archive-date=14 June 2015|url-status=dead))
* ((cite book|first=Jill|last=Rutter|title=Refugee Children in the UK|location=Maidenhead|publisher=Open University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0335213740|url=https://archive.org/details/refugeechildrenu00rutt))
* ((cite book|first=Jill|last=Rutter|chapter=Equity in Education for Migrant and Refugee Children: Issues from the United Kingdom|editor-first1=Florence E.|editor-last1=McCarthy|editor-first2=Margaret Heather|editor-last2=Vickers|title=Refugee and Immigrant Students: Achieving Equity in Education|publisher=Information Age Publishing|location=Charlotte, NC|year=2012|pages=167–188|isbn=978-1617358418))
* ((cite web|url=http://www.ippr.org/assets/media/images/media/files/publication/2013/03/back-to-basics-integration_Mar2013_10525.pdf?noredirect=1|last1=Rutter|first1=Jill|title=Back to basics: Towards a successful and cost-effective integration policy|publisher=Institute for Public Policy Research|date=March 2013|access-date=13 June 2015))
* ((cite book|first=Jill|last=Rutter|title=Moving Up and Getting On: Migration, integration and social cohesion in the UK|location=Bristol|publisher=Policy Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1447314615))
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Rutter and Latorre|2009))|last1=Rutter | first1=Jill | last2=Latorre | first2=Maria | url=http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/documents/4_social_housing_allocation_and_immigrant_communities.pdf|title=Social housing allocation and immigrant communities|publisher=[[Equality and Human Rights Commission]]|date=Spring 2009|access-date=5 August 2010)) <!-- SHAIC -->
* ((cite journal|ref=((harvid|Straus, McEwen and Mohamed Hussein|2009))|first1=Lianne|last1=Straus|first2=Andy|last2=McEwen|first3=Faduma|last3=Mohamed Hussein|title=Somali women's experience of childbirth in the UK: Perspectives from Somali health workers|journal=Midwifery|volume=25|issue=2|year=2009|pages=181–186|doi=10.1016/j.midw.2007.02.002|pmid=17600598))
* ((cite web|ref=((harvid|Toms and Thorpe|2012))|title=Practical Measures for Reducing Irregular Migration|url=http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/networks/european_migration_network/reports/docs/emn-studies/irregular-migration/uk_20120402_practicalmeasuresforreducingirregularmigration_final_en.pdf|first1=Hannah|last1=Toms|first2=Katharine|last2=Thorpe|publisher=Home Office|pages=3 & 78|date=2012|access-date=10 May 2015))
* ((cite web|title=Working with a community to prevent child sexual abuse in the home|url=http://library.nspcc.org.uk/HeritageScripts/Hapi.dll/filetransfer/2018FourStepsToThePreventionOfCSAInTheHome.pdf?CookieCheck=43313.725224213&filename=AA58F75CEDE68892A73FB681FE246B8371684F102152F0AA780A14959D3BCE5767137B3B2A935011CBAEC3068664FF681AA6D2524E357BAB96C006752CCD756759AD77BD1E389823A55CFAAE74B2EE64F46C611AD1724BE1AC500B025490CCB1CD8D9D26B00674E723A731951BB13FBE2976BA14838E6BBB09A4FA52BE735F27D92CBFED7FA6CFFA88BC073F0228EAA69F4D1FE158D846D5D4DD33F8F3466703AC49AD67CE927D87622D067280EF2A231A479B85D0572EF2AABC4480&DataSetName=LIVEDATA|first1=Mike|last1=Williams|publisher=NSPCC |date=2018|access-date=6 September 2018))

==Further reading==
*((cite book|title=Critical Realism, Somalia and the Diaspora Community|first=Abdullahi|last=Haji-Abdi|year=2014|location=Abingdon|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781138233324))
*((Cite journal|title=A changing sense of Somaliness: Somali women in London and Toronto|journal=Gender, Place & Culture|volume=17|issue=4|pages=519–538|year=2010|first=Gail|last=Hopkins|doi=10.1080/0966369X.2010.485846|s2cid=146614552))
* ((Cite book| last=Kahin | first=Mohamed H. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyj0DG8C7g0C|title=Educating Somali Children in Britain | publisher=Trentham Books | year=1997 |isbn=978-1-85856-089-2 ))
*((Cite journal|title=Social capital or social exclusion? The impact of asylum-seeker dispersal on UK refugee community organizations|journal=Community Development Journal|volume=40|issue=2|pages=169–181|year=2005|author1-link=Roger Zetter|first1=Roger|last1=Zetter|first2=David|last2=Griffiths|first3=Nando|last3=Sigona|doi=10.1093/cdj/bsi025))

((AfricansinUK))
((Somali diaspora))

[[Category:Somalian diaspora in the United Kingdom|*]]
[[Category:British people of Somali descent|*]]
[[Category:Islam in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Muslim communities in Europe]]
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Module:Language/data/iana suppressed scripts (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Language/data/iana variants (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Message box (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/ambox.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/disambiguation (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/setindex (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/softredirect (view source) (protected)
Module:Portal (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/images/s (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/images/u (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Module:String (view source) (protected)
Module:Template wrapper (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Unicode data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Unsubst (view source) (protected)
Module:WPMILHIST Infobox style (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:WPSHIPS utilities (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:WPSHIPS utilities/data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Wikitext Parsing (view source) (protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)
Return to Somalis in the United Kingdom.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalis_in_the_United_Kingdom"