Record 65.6 Million People Displaced Worldwide Says UNHCR

UNHCR has recorded 65.6 million people displaced worldwide. Out of this some of them are either refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced across the globe.

Key Notes:

The announcement was made on 19 June 2017 in the UN Refugee Agency’s annual Global Trends study.

• Developing regions host 84% of the world’s refugees.There were 2 million new asylum claims in 2016. Germany received the highest number, followed by the United States, Italy and Turkey.
• As per the report a record 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2016. It is more than the population of Britain – and an increase of 300,000 over the previous year.
• This included 22.5 million refugees, 40.3 million uprooted within their countries and 2.8 million asylum seekers.
• One person became displaced every three seconds in 2016. The fastest growing refugee population was spurred by the crisis in South Sudan.
• More than half of refugees globally come from three countries: Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan.
• Altogether, 55% of all refugees worldwide came from just three countries: Syrian Arab Republic (5.5 million), Afghanistan (2.5 million) and South Sudan (1.4 million).
• Nearly two-thirds of Syrians have been forced to flee their homes.
• Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees (2.9 million) followed by Pakistan (1.4 million) and Lebanon (1 million).
• It is for the third consecutive year that Turkey hosted largest number of refugees.
• Children under 18 make up just over half the refugee population.
• Some 189,300 refugees were accepted for resettlement by 37 countries.
• Some 552,200 refugees returned to their countries of origin – more than double the previous year. Most returned to Afghanistan.
• At least 10 million people are estimated to be stateless.

About UNHCR

• Formed on 14 December 1950
• Head: FilippoGrandi
• UNHCR: United Nations High Commissioner for refugees