DOI: 10.3886/e207021v1-155410
title: 2021 Annual Survey of Refugees

description: Since the 1980s, the Office of Refugee Resettlement [1] (ORR) has conducted the Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR), which collects information on refugees during their first five years after arrival in the U.S. The ASR is the only scientifically collected source of national data on refugees’ progress toward self-sufficiency and integration. ORR uses the ASR results alongside other information sources to fulfill its Congressionally mandated reporting requirement following the Refugee Act of 1980. <br><br>In the spring of 2022, ORR completed its 55th Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR). The data from the ASR offer a window into respondents’ first five years in the United States and show the progress that refugee families made towards learning English, participating in the workforce, and establishing permanent residence. This public use data deposit is only for the 2021 ASR with future years likely to be added to the ICPSR archive.<br>[1] The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) serves refugees and other humanitarian entrants, including asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, Special Immigrant Visa holders, Amerasians, victims of human trafficking, and unaccompanied children. By providing these arrived populations with critical resources, ORR promotes their economic and social well-being. Of these populations, the Annual Survey of Refugees focuses solely on refugees who have come to the U.S. in the past five fiscal years.
description: Household- and person-level analytic weights were developed for the 2021 ASR to allow for valid statistical estimates of the target refugee population. Both sets of weights are comprised of two components – a base weight reflecting the selection probability and an adjustment that corrects for differential nonresponse and aligns the population to known totals from the sampling frame (RADS universe file). Replicate weights are included
on the 2021 ASR data files to facilitate estimating standard errors. <br>
description: Response Rates: An overall response rate of 19 percent was achieved. Overall response
rates decreased with time since arrival to the U.S. — from a low of 13 percent
for FY2016-17 refugees, to a high of 32 percent for FY2020 refugees. <br><br> The response rate was driven by the ability to locate and speak to, and among the refugees who were successfully contacted, 72 percent agreed to participate in the survey and completed it. <br>
description: The 2021 ASR targeted 1,500 completed interviews from refugee households entering the U.S. between FY 2016-2020. The sample was designed to allow for separate estimates and analyses from each of the three designated cohorts. Moreover, the design needed to accommodate both household- and person-level analyses. <br><br>The sample was drawn as fresh cross sections by cohort; there was no longitudinal component. The survey objectives required that – in addition to primary stratification by cohort – the sample of households were stratified by year of entry and geographic region of origin. <br><br>The 2021 ASR sampling frame was the Office of Refugee Resettlement's Refugee Arrivals Data System (RADS) dataset.
description: Refugees 16 years of age or older at the time of interview and arrived in the U.S. during Fiscal Year 2016-2020. Smallest Geographic Unit: Census Region originally resettled in and country of birth
description: telephone interview;