As of mid-2024, Syria had the highest number of refugees who had fled the country. That year, about 6.25 million refugees had left the country, mainly due to the civil war that started in 2011. Second on the list is Ukraine after over six million people left the country since Russia's invasion in February 2022. The third highest number of refugees in the world came from Afghanistan after years of civil wars, instability, and Taliban regaining power in 2021. 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 2022, 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.

As of mid-2024, Iran was the largest refugee-hosting country in the world. According to data available by the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, there were nearly 3.8 million refugees in Iran. Turkey was second with more than 3.1 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.

Canada refugee statistics for 2023 was 169,448, a 20.5% increase from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Canada refugee statistics for 2022 was <strong>140,621</strong>, a <strong>8.07% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>Canada refugee statistics for 2021 was <strong>130,125</strong>, a <strong>19.15% increase</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>Canada refugee statistics for 2020 was <strong>109,214</strong>, a <strong>7.33% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>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.

Germany has long been involved with international asylum applications, especially in recent years. The most applications came from Syrian asylum seekers. These was followed by applications from Afghanistan and Turkey. Germany as a refuge choice Statistics on the number of asylum applicants in Germany are recorded by the BAMF, or the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge). The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has decreased refugee numbers in Europe, with travel bans across modes of transport and borders being closed. As the restrictions begin to lift, migration is beginning again. 2023 saw the highest number of applications for asylum since 2016. However, in 2024, numbers have decreased significanly again. Support for refugees remains a present issue, fraught with tension, legal complications and surrounded by constant debate with many believing that not enough is done to support them. Asylum decisions Not all asylum applications in Germany get accepted, due to various circumstances. Besides rejection, decisions regarding asylum may involve granting a legal status as a refugee, a grant of subsidiary protection or determining a deportation ban.

Context

A refugee is a person outside his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. An asylee is a person who meets the definition of refugee and is already present in the United States or is seeking admission at a port of entry. Refugees are required to apply for lawful permanent resident (“green card”) status one year after being admitted, and asylees may apply for green card status one year after being granted asylum.

Content

The Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) Annual Flow Reports on refugees and asylees contain information obtained from the Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System (WRAPS) of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the US Department of State on the numbers and demographic profiles of persons admitted to the United States as refugees and those granted asylum status during a given fiscal year.

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;

The refugee location data (Geo-Refugee) provides information on the geographical locations, population sizes and accommodation types of refugees and people in refugee-like situations throughout Africa. Based on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Location and Demographic Composition data as well as information contained in supplemental UNHCR resources, Geo-Refugee assigns administrative unit names and geographic coordinates to refugee camps/ centers, and locations hosting dispersed (self-settled) refugees. Geo-Refugee was collected for the purpose of investigating the relationship between refugees and armed conflict, but can be used for a number of refugee-related studies. The original data for the category refugees and people in a refugee-like situation by accommodation type and location name comes directly from the UNHCR. The category refugees includes: "individuals recognized under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa; those recognized in accordance with the UNHCR statute; individuals granted complementary forms of protection and those enjoying temporary protection.The category people in a refugee-like situation "is descriptive in nature and includes groups of people who are outside their country of origin and who face protection risks similar to those of refugees, but for whom refugee status has, for practical or other reasons, not been ascertained" (UNHCR http://www.unhcr.org/45c06c662.html). The unit of the data is the first-level administrative unit (province, region or state). A refugee location is defined as a unit with a known refugee population, as established by UNHCR country offices. The locations data was compiled using statistics provided by the UNHCR Division of Programme Support and Management. Several of the refugee sites in the original UNHCR data are camp names or other lo cations which are not immediately traceable to a particular location using even the most established geographical databases like that of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). Thus, unit-level location of refugees was established and confirmed using supplementary resources including reports, maps, and policy documents compiled by the UNHCR and contained in the Refworld database (see http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain). Refworld was the primary database used for this project. Geographic coordinates were assigned using the database of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. See https://www1.nga.mil/Pages/default.aspx for more information. All attempts were made to find precise coordinates, including cross-referencing with Google Maps. The current version of the data covers 43 African countries and encompasses the period 2000 to 2010. The UNHCR began systematically collecting information on the locations and demographic compositions of refugee populations in 2000.

Resettled refugees who arrived in Canada as part of the Government of Canada's Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program. Datasets include resettled refugees who have received settlement services. Please note that in these datasets, the figures have been suppressed or rounded to prevent the identification of individuals when the datasets are compiled and compared with other publicly available statistics. Values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--“ and all other values are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5. This may result to the sum of the figures not equating to the totals indicated.

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;

Europe hosts the largest number of refugees worldwide. In mid-2024, more than 13.7 million refugees were living on the continent, 3.4 million only in Turkey. Moreover, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 forced millions to flee, a vast majority of these to European countries.

Syria SY: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data was reported at 569,774.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 562,823.000 Person for 2016. Syria SY: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data is updated yearly, averaging 427,424.500 Person from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,955,236.000 Person in 2007 and a record low of 284,856.000 Person in 1990. Syria SY: 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 Syrian Arab Republic – Table SY.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), 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;

Greece refugee statistics for 2023 was 192,384, a 19.67% increase from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Greece refugee statistics for 2022 was <strong>160,761</strong>, a <strong>34.36% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>Greece refugee statistics for 2021 was <strong>119,650</strong>, a <strong>16.05% increase</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>Greece refugee statistics for 2020 was <strong>103,101</strong>, a <strong>28.15% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>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.

Norway NO: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data was reported at 10.000 Person in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 12.000 Person for 2015. Norway NO: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data is updated yearly, averaging 4.000 Person from Dec 1994 (Median) to 2016, with 23 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 15.000 Person in 2005 and a record low of 1.000 Person in 1996. Norway NO: 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 Norway – Table NO.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;

In 2024, Turkey was the country that hosted the highest amount of Syrian refugees, amounting up to 3.1 million refugees. Lebanon was second, hosting 775,000 Syrian refugees. The data refers to the total number of Syrian refugees in a given country, not considering the date of their application for asylum or the date of their flight.

Abstract

The Syrian crisis has caused one of the largest episodes of forced displacement since World War II and some of the densest refugee-hosting situations in modern history. Syria's immediate neighbors host the bulk of Syrian refugees. The host countries were dealing with impact of inflow of refugees as well as consequences of the Syrian conflict such as disruption on trade and economic activity and growth and spread of the Islamic State. This survey was designed to generate comparable findings on the lives and livelihoods of Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan, Lebanon and Kurdistan, Iraq.

The goals of the survey originally were: - to assess the socio-economic and living conditions of a representative sample of the Syrian refugee and host community population. - to understand the implications in terms of social and economic conditions on the host communities. - to identify strategies to support Syrian refugees and host communities in the immediate and longer term.

Geographic coverage

Syrian refugee and host community in Jordan

Analysis unit

Refugee household and individual

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Jordan has carried out Population and Housing Censuses on regular intervals, with the last one in late 2015. What was particularly attractive about the latest census from the perspective of sampling was that it explicitly asked about the nationality of all residents. This would have allowed stratification of areas by density of Syrians. However, the original design could not be implemented because we could not access the new sample frame based on the 2015 Jordanian census. The design was then amended to include a representative sample of the Azraq and Za'atari camps (which account for the vast majority of Syrian refugees in camps in Jordan). This sample was complemented by purposive samples of the surrounding governorates, Mafraq and Zarqa, where the sample included areas physically proximate to the camp and other areas with a high number of Syrian refugees. In Amman Governorate, a purposive sample was drawn, combining a geographically distributed sample with a sample of areas with a high prevalence of Syrian refugees per the 2015 census, as indicated by the Jordanian Department of Statistics. Analytically, this implies the insights from Jordan will be limited to camp residents, neighboring areas of the camps, and Amman governorate. For this reason, Amman is left out of the rest of the discussion, where our focus is on relating the innovative approaches that we followed to obtain near-representative sample in absence of recent sampling frame.

Note: A more detailed description of the sample design is presented in Section 2 of "Survey Design and Sampling: A methodology note for the 2015-16 surveys of Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan, Lebanon and Kurdistan, Iraq" document.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The survey instrument was administered across Lebanon, Jordan, and KRI, with slight modifications depending on the structure of refugee living conditions. The survey includes detailed questions on demographics, employment, access to public services, health, migration, and perceptions.

Ireland IE: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data was reported at 5,655.000 Person in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6,125.000 Person for 2015. Ireland IE: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data is updated yearly, averaging 5,655.000 Person from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2016, with 27 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9,730.000 Person in 2008 and a record low of 69.000 Person in 1996. Ireland IE: 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 Ireland – Table IE.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 asylum is the country where an asylum claim was filed and granted.; ; 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;

The average for 2023 based on 7 countries was 69354 refugees. The highest value was in India: 252867 refugees and the lowest value was in Vietnam: 19 refugees. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

India refugee statistics for 2023 was 252,867, a 4.13% increase from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>India refugee statistics for 2022 was <strong>242,835</strong>, a <strong>14.32% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>India refugee statistics for 2021 was <strong>212,413</strong>, a <strong>8.72% increase</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>India refugee statistics for 2020 was <strong>195,373</strong>, a <strong>0.14% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>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.

As of mid-2023, 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 Russia and Germany. Looking only at where the refugees come from, the largest number comes from Syria, with Ukraine and Afghanistan behind.

Hungary refugee statistics for 2023 was 63,180, a 78.63% increase from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Hungary refugee statistics for 2022 was <strong>35,370</strong>, a <strong>523.15% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>Hungary refugee statistics for 2021 was <strong>5,676</strong>, a <strong>2.77% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>Hungary refugee statistics for 2020 was <strong>5,838</strong>, a <strong>1.53% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>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.