As of the end of 2024, Iran was the largest refugee-hosting country in the world. According to data available by the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, there were nearly 3.5 million refugees in Iran. Turkey was second with more than 2.9 million. The data refers to the total number of refugees in a given country, not considering the date of their application for asylum or the date of their flight.

Since the 1950s, the number of forcibly displaced persons recognized by the United Nations has increased drastically; from around 2.1 million international refugees in 1951 to almost 123 million displaced persons in total in 2023. Annual figures are not reflective of the actual number of forcibly displaced people in the world, but rather the number of people identified as such by the UN. Preliminary figures for 2024 show that this figure may now reach the 125 million mark, with major new crises in Sudan and Palestine sending this figure higher, after the Russia-Ukraine War pushed this figure past 100 million people for the first time in 2022. UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was founded in 1950 to deal with the large number of displaced persons in Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. Since then, the scale and geographical scope of its operations has broadened significantly, as it works to provide humanitarian aid, logistical support, and long-term solutions to crises across the globe. The UNHCR played an instrumental role in facilitating or limiting the impact of many decolonization movements across Africa and Asia in the late 20th century, and, in recent decades, it has provided much-needed assistance in conflict areas, such as the Balkans in the 1990s, Afghanistan since the 2000s, and more recently in Syria and Yemen. Alongside the UNHCR, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established in 1949 to provide similar assistance programs for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and it is currently operational in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the State of Palestine, but its future remains uncertain after the Israeli parliament revoked its license to operate in the country in October 2024. Long-term crises Persistent instability in Sub-Saharan Africa has also been a major area of focus throughout the UNHCR's history, as economic and structural underdevelopment, alongside conflict and political instability, has created several refugee crises that are now in their fourth decade. While countries such as Colombia, Germany, and Turkey have, to varying degrees, successfully managed refugee crises in recent years, the economies of most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are not equipped to do so. Displacement has placed a great strain on several regions' already-struggling resources, and these are now also being affected by climate change. Countries such as Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda are home to camps or camp networks that house several hundred thousand refugees, with some of the largest in Kenya being established in the early 1990s.

This dataset provides detailed statistics on the movements and status of refugees, asylum-seekers, and other individuals of concern to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 2019 to 2024. 📊 It covers various categories such as refugees under UNHCR's mandate, asylum-seekers, returned refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returned IDPs, stateless persons, and others of concern. The data is disaggregated by the country of origin and the country of asylum, offering a comprehensive view of global refugee and asylum trends. 🌍

Data Source: Extracted from: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 🏦 Data Link: UNHCR Data Portal

Key Features: Year: The year of the data. Country of Origin: The country from which the individuals are originating. Country of Asylum: The country where the individuals are seeking refuge. Refugees: The number of refugees under UNHCR's mandate. Asylum-Seekers: The number of individuals seeking asylum. Returned Refugees: The number of individuals who have returned to their country of origin. IDPs of Concern to UNHCR: The number of internally displaced persons of concern to UNHCR. Returned IDPs: The number of internally displaced persons who returned. ** Stateless Persons**: The number of stateless individuals. Others of Concern: The number of other individuals of concern to UNHCR. Other People in Need of International Protection: The number of other people in need of international protection. Host Community: The number of individuals in the host community.

Potential Use Cases: Research and Analysis: Analyze global trends in refugee and asylum-seeker movements. 📈 Policy Making: Inform policy decisions and humanitarian aid efforts. 🛠️ Data Visualization: Create visualizations to better understand the distribution and movement of refugees and asylum-seekers. 📊 Educational Purposes: Use the data to teach about global migration patterns and humanitarian issues. 📚

Context:

The mass movement of uprooted people is a highly charged geopolitical issue. This data, gathered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), covers movement of displaced persons (asylum seekers, refugees, internally displaced persons (IDP), stateless). Also included are destination country responses to asylum petitions.

Content:

This dataset includes 6 csv files covering:

• Asylum monthly applications opened (asylum_seekers_monthly.csv)
• Yearly progress through the refugee system (asylum_seekers.csv)
• Refugee demographics (demographics.csv)
• Yearly time series data on UNHCR’s populations of concern (time_series.csv)
• Yearly population statistics on refugees by residence and destination (persons_of_concern.csv)
• Yearly data on resettlement arrivals, with or without UNHCR assistance (resettlement.csv)

Acknowledgements:

This dataset was gathered from UNHCR. Photo by Ali Tareq.

Inspiration:

What are the most frequent destination countries for refugees? How has refugee flow changed? Any trends that could predict future refugee patterns?

United States US: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data was reported at 285.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 310.000 Person for 2016. United States US: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data is updated yearly, averaging 374.500 Person from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4,987.000 Person in 2014 and a record low of 1.000 Person in 1990. United States US: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of origin generally refers to the nationality or country of citizenship of a claimant.; ; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Statistics Database, Statistical Yearbook and data files, complemented by statistics on Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the UNRWA as published on its website. Data from UNHCR are available online at: www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html.; Sum;

Graph and download economic data for Refugee Population by Country or Territory of Asylum for Countries with Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations (SMPOPREFGFCS) from 1990 to 2023 about refugee, World, and population.

Graph and download economic data for Refugee Population by Country or Territory of Asylum for Middle East and North Africa (SMPOPREFGMEA) from 1990 to 2023 about North Africa, Middle East, refugee, World, and population.

Germany DE: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data was reported at 2,593,007.000 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 2,075,445.000 Person for 2022. Germany DE: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data is updated yearly, averaging 580,792.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2,593,007.000 Person in 2023 and a record low of 83,500.000 Person in 1978. Germany DE: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of asylum is the country where an asylum claim was filed and granted.;United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNRWA through UNHCR's Refugee Data Finder at https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/.;Sum;

There have never been as many internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world as now. The United Nations registered about 32 million refugees and 67 million IDPs in 2024. The numbers for both have been increasing over the last decade. Especially the internally displaced persons worldwide has been heavily increasing recently, with a sharp increase in the years after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011. In 2022, Ukraine was the country in the world with the highest number of IDPs.

Andorra AD: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data was reported at 5.000 Person in 2022. This stayed constant from the previous number of 5.000 Person for 2015. Andorra AD: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data is updated yearly, averaging 5.000 Person from Dec 2002 (Median) to 2022, with 14 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10.000 Person in 2007 and a record low of 5.000 Person in 2022. Andorra AD: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Andorra – Table AD.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of origin generally refers to the nationality or country of citizenship of a claimant.;United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Refugee Data Finder at https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/.;Sum;

Graph and download economic data for Refugee Population by Country or Territory of Asylum for Germany (SMPOPREFGDEU) from 1960 to 2023 about refugee, Germany, World, and population.

Graph and download economic data for Refugee Population by Country or Territory of Asylum for the United Kingdom (SMPOPREFGGBR) from 1960 to 2023 about refugee, United Kingdom, World, and population.

Belgium BE: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data was reported at 167,831.000 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 150,713.000 Person for 2022. Belgium BE: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data is updated yearly, averaging 29,000.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 167,831.000 Person in 2023 and a record low of 11,100.000 Person in 1974. Belgium BE: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Belgium – Table BE.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of asylum is the country where an asylum claim was filed and granted.;United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNRWA through UNHCR's Refugee Data Finder at https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/.;Sum;

Poland PL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data was reported at 1,108.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1,159.000 Person for 2016. Poland PL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data is updated yearly, averaging 3,053.000 Person from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 35,938.000 Person in 1994 and a record low of 865.000 Person in 2000. Poland PL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Poland – Table PL.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of origin generally refers to the nationality or country of citizenship of a claimant.; ; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Statistics Database, Statistical Yearbook and data files, complemented by statistics on Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the UNRWA as published on its website. Data from UNHCR are available online at: www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html.; Sum;

As of the end of 2024, Syria had the highest number of refugees who had fled the country. That year, about 5.95 million refugees had left the country, mainly due to the civil war that started in 2011. The second highest number of refugees in the world came from Afghanistan after years of civil wars, instability, and the Taliban regaining power in 2021. Third on the list is Ukraine, after almost six million people left the country since Russia's invasion in February 2022. What are refugees? Refugees are people who have been forced to leave their country because of dangerous circumstances, such as war, violence, famine, or persecution. These circumstances arise from race, religious, ethnic, and/or political persecution, and refugees are unable to return to their home countries due to these conflicts. As of 2024, Turkey hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees. Refugees worldwide The number of refugees, internally displaced people, and asylum seekers worldwide has significantly increased since 2012, much due to the civil wars in Syria and Libya that started in 2011, but also due to increasing instability in the Sahel, the Sudan civil war, the Israel-Hamas war, and the Russia-Ukraine war. An internally displaced person is someone who is forced to leave their home but still stays in their country. They are not legally considered a refugee. Asylum seekers are people who leave their home country and enter another country to apply for asylum, which is internationally recognized protection.

The average for 2023 based on 27 countries was 272670 refugees. The highest value was in Germany: 2593007 refugees and the lowest value was in Slovenia: 10525 refugees. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

As of the end of 2024, nearly *** million refugees from Afghanistan were residing in neighboring Iran, making it the most common sender-host refugee route worldwide. Refugees tend to seek refuge in countries nearby, with Syrians predominantly seeking refuge in Turkey and Lebanon, and Ukrainians mostly in Poland and Germany. Looking only at where the refugees come from, the largest number comes from Syria, with Ukraine and Afghanistan behind.

Graph and download economic data for Refugee Population by Country or Territory of Asylum for Italy (SMPOPREFGITA) from 1960 to 2023 about refugee, Italy, World, and population.

Ivory Coast CI: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data was reported at 39,939.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 46,813.000 Person for 2016. Ivory Coast CI: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data is updated yearly, averaging 22,229.500 Person from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 154,824.000 Person in 2011 and a record low of 2.000 Person in 1990. Ivory Coast CI: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ivory Coast – Table CI.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of origin generally refers to the nationality or country of citizenship of a claimant.; ; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Statistics Database, Statistical Yearbook and data files, complemented by statistics on Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the UNRWA as published on its website. Data from UNHCR are available online at: www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html.; Sum;

Historical dataset showing World refugee statistics by year from 1990 to 2023.