Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current estimate of the number of British-born jihadists who have gone to fight in support of extremist groups in Syria and Iraq; and how that figure compares with estimates by other western governments of numbers of their citizens who have gone to fight.

We believe that approximately 500 individuals from the UK have now travelled to the region since the start of the conflict. It is estimated half of these have returned. Not all of these individuals will have been involved in fighting.Recent comparable estimates of travellers/fighters for selected countries where some data has been reported publically are as follows:


o France: over 700

o Germany: 400

o Belgium: 300

o Netherlands: 130

o Austria: 140

o Denmark: over 100

o USA: just over 100

o Canada: Roughly 100

o Sweden: 80

o Spain: 60

o Australia: at least 60.