UNHCR 2021 Global Trends Report

Key data:

• By May 2022, more than 100 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order.
• At end 2021, the figure was 89.3 million, comprising:
  • 27.1 million refugees
    • 21.3 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate
    • 5.8 million Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate
  • 53.2 million internally displaced people
  • 4.6 million asylum seekers
  • 4.4 million Venezuelans displaced abroad
• Among refugees and Venezuelans displaced abroad in 2021:
  • Low- and middle-income countries hosted 83 per cent
  • Least Developed Countries provided asylum to 27 per cent of the total.
  • 72 per cent lived in countries neighbouring their countries of origin.
  • Türkiye hosted nearly 3.8 million refugees, the largest population worldwide, followed by Uganda (1.5 million), Pakistan (1.5 million) and Germany (1.3 million). Colombia hosted 1.8 million Venezuelans displaced abroad.
  • Lebanon hosted the largest number of refugees per capita (1 in 8), followed by Jordan (1 in 14) and Türkiye (1 in 23). Relative to their national populations, the island of Aruba hosted the largest number of Venezuelans displaced abroad (1 in 6) followed by Curaçao (1 in 10).
• More than two thirds (69 per cent) of refugees and Venezuelans displaced abroad came from just five countries: Syria (6.8 million), Venezuela (4.6 million), Afghanistan (2.7 million), South Sudan (2.4 million) and Myanmar (1.2 million).
• Globally, there were 6.1 million Venezuelan refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in 2021 (reported through the Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela).
• Asylum seekers submitted 1.4 million new claims. The United States of America was the world’s largest recipient of new individual applications (188,900), followed by Germany (148,200), Mexico (132,700), Costa Rica (108,500) and France (90,200).
• Solutions:
  • 5.7 million displaced people returned to their areas or countries of origin in 2021, including 5.3 million internally displaced people and 429,300 refugees.

Additional information / supporting multimedia materials:

UNHCR’s Global Trends report and an accompanying package of multimedia assets are available on our media page. The report is subject to a worldwide embargo of no use before 00:01 GMT on 16 June 2022.

Note:

UNHCR’s Global Trends report is released in parallel with its annual Global Report, which reports on UNHCR programmes and activities to address the needs of all who are forced to flee, as well as the world’s known stateless populations.

For more information on this topic, please contact:

In Geneva:

• Matthew Saltmarsh, saltmars@unhcr.org, +41 79 967 99 36
• Shabia Mantoo, mantoo@unhcr.org, +41 79 337 7650

In New York:

• Kathryn Mahoney, mahoney@unhcr.org, +1 (347) 574-6552

Media contacts – worldwide
To find additional spokespeople not listed here, visit our media centre

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