Press Room ::Facts & Figures

The Growing International Refugee Crisis: Facts and Figures

Since 1951, more than 50 million men, women and children around the world have started new lives with the help of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) but today, the need for both emergency and ongoing aid for those escaping war, persecution and violence has never been greater. There are dozens of localized, internal struggles producing far larger numbers of internally displaced persons in increasingly dangerous situations than ever before.

How extensive is the problem and where are the needs greatest?

The Scope of the International Refugee Crisis: Global Trends

At the end of 2009, there were 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide – the highest number since the mid-1990s.¹
Of these forcibly displaced people, more than 26 million – 10.4 million refugees and 15.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) – were receiving protection or assistance from UNHCR. This is one million more people than in 2008.²
Globally, an estimated 24.7 million refugees have returned home over the past 20 years, most of them with UNHCR assistance.³ During 2009, UNHCR was able to resettle some 84,000 refugees.⁴
Of great concern to UNHCR, there were more IDPs in 2009 than at any time on record. UNHCR documented an increase of 1.2 million IDPs in 2009 compared to 2008 estimates (15.6 million in 2009 compared with 14.4 million in 2008) and more than double the IDP population in 2005.⁵
By the end of 2009, UNHCR also indentified some 6.6 million stateless persons in 60 countries.⁶
More than 922,000 individual claims for asylum or refugee status were registered in 2009. Of this total, UNHCR registered 119,100 claims (13 percent) during 2009.⁷
Unaccompanied or separated children filed more than 18,700 asylum applications in 71 countries, the highest number in four years. The applications came mostly from Afghan and Somali children.⁸
By nationality, the most new asylum claims around the world were filed by individuals originating from Zimbabwe (158,200), Myanmar (48,600), Eritrea (43,300), Ethiopia (42,500), Colombia (39,200), Afghanistan (38,900) and Somalia (37,900).⁹
It is estimated that some 5.5 million refugees were in a protracted situation by the end of 2009.¹⁰ UNHCR defines a protracted refugee situation as one in which 25,000 or more refugees of the same nationality have been in exile for 5 years or longer in any given asylum country.

Today’s Refugees: The World’s Most Vulnerable People

When it comes to the composition of the world’s refugees and asylum seekers, UNHCR estimated that 41 percent were children below 18 years of age at the end of 2009¹¹ and as many as 11 percent were under age 5.¹²
On average, women and girls represent 49 percent of all persons of concern to UNHCR. During 2009, 47 percent of all refugees and asylum-seekers and half of all IDPs and returnees (former refugees) were women and girls.¹³
Refugees over 60 years old comprised 5 percent of the overall population in 2009.¹⁴ Mostly women,¹⁵ these older refugees are particularly vulnerable during conflict and natural disasters due to their lack of mobility, weakened vision, and increased incidence of chronic illnesses, such as arthritis or rheumatism.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 2.3 and 3.3 million of the world's forcibly displaced people live with disabilities¹⁶, one third of them children.¹⁷ Among displaced persons who have fled civil conflict, war or natural disasters, the number with disabilities may be even higher.
Today, more than half of the world’s refugees reside in urban areas and less than one-third in camps. However, 6 in 10 refugees in sub-Saharan Africa resided in camps in 2009.¹⁸
Afghanistan has been the leading country of origin for refugees for the past three decades with up to 6.4 million of its citizens having sought international protection during peak years. At the end of 2009, close to 2.9 million Afghans were still refugees.¹⁹
Iraqis were the second largest refugee group, with 1.8 million having sought refuge primarily in neighboring countries.²⁰

The Impact on Specific Countries and Regions

Developing countries hosted 8.3 million refugees, or 80 percent of the global refugee population. The 49 least developed countries provided asylum to 1.9 million refugees.²¹
More than one-third of all refugees were residing in Asia and the Pacific region, of which three-quarters of the refugee population is from Afghanistan.²²
Pakistan was host to the largest number of refugees worldwide (1.7 million), followed by the Islamic Republic of Iran (1.1 million) and the Syrian Arab Republic (1.05 million).²³
Sub-Saharan Africa was host to one-fifth of all refugees, primarily from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Sudan.²⁴
Renewed armed conflict and human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia during 2009 led to new refugee outflows and the movement of 277,000 people primarily to the Republic of Congo (94,000) and Kenya (72,500).²⁵
Even though Afghan refugees could be found in 71 asylum countries worldwide in 2009, 96 percent of them were located in Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran alone.²⁶
During 2009, a total of 112,400 refugees were admitted by 19 resettlement countries. The country accepting the most refugees for resettlement was the U.S. (79,900) followed by Canada (12,500), Australia (11,100), Germany (2,100), Sweden (1,900), and Norway (1,400). Overall, this was one quarter above the total for 2008 (88,800) and the highest level since 1995 (134,100).²⁷
By nationality, the main beneficiaries of the UNHCR-facilitated resettlement programs in 2009 were refugees from Myanmar (24,800), Iraq (23,000), Bhutan (17,500), Somalia (5,500), Eritrea (2,500), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2,500).²⁸
Among those countries that received claims for asylum of refugee status, South Africa was the largest recipient in 2009, followed by the United States and France.²⁹

References

2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 10
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 20
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 18
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 6
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 6
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 14
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 14
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 15
UNHCR's Policy on Older Refugees. April 2000
Disabilities Among Refugees and Conflict-Affected Populations. Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. 2008.
Disabilities Among Refugees and Conflict-Affected Populations. Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. 2008.
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 8
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 6
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 6
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 6
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 8
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 12
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 12
2009 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons; UNHCR, June 15, 2010, page 1