Refugee statistics show a global population measured in multiple protection categories, with 41.6 million refugees recorded at the end of 2025. The latest figures also show that most refugees live in low- and middle-income countries, while millions of people continue to seek protection, return home, resettle, or wait for decisions on their claims.
Contents
- How many refugees are there worldwide?
- Which populations account for the largest totals?
- Where do refugees live?
- What do asylum application statistics show?
- How many refugees return or resettle?
- What do refugee demographics show?
- What do registration, education, and health figures show?
How many refugees are there worldwide?
The headline total depends on the date and on which population categories are included. UNHCR distinguishes refugees under its mandate, people in refugee-like situations, other people needing international protection, and Palestine refugees under UNRWA. These categories should not be treated as interchangeable.
At the end of 2025, 41.6 million refugees were recorded worldwide across those categories. The total included 28.5 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate and 6 million Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate. These figures are reported in Global Trends.
The preliminary mid-year picture was different. By the end of June 2025, 42.5 million refugees were recorded globally, 1% below the end-of-2024 total. At mid-2025, 27.2 million were refugees under UNHCR’s mandate. The Mid-Year Trends figures are preliminary, while end-year figures may later be revised.
| Measurement point | Global total | UNHCR-mandate refugees | Important scope note |
|---|---|---|---|
| End of 2025 | 41.6 million | 28.5 million | Includes the listed UNHCR and UNRWA protection categories |
| End of June 2025 | 42.5 million | 27.2 million | Preliminary mid-year measurement |
Because the two measurements use different dates and reporting stages, the totals should be compared cautiously. A mid-year figure is not a direct substitute for a revised end-year stock.
Which populations account for the largest totals?
Country of origin statistics help explain where displacement is concentrated. At the end of 2023, Afghanistan was the largest country of refugee origin, with 6.4 million refugees. Syria had 6.4 million refugees and people in refugee-like situations, while Venezuela accounted for 6.1 million refugees and other people in need of international protection. Ukraine accounted for 6.0 million refugees and other people in need of international protection. These classifications and measurements are from Global Trends 2023.
The concentration was substantial: the five largest countries of origin together accounted for 73% of refugees under UNHCR’s mandate at the end of 2023. At the same time, 69% of refugees were hosted in a country neighboring their country of origin. That pattern indicates how often people seek safety close to home, even when the movement crosses an international border.
Afghanistan illustrates the importance of reading a planning figure separately from a global end-year stock. UNHCR’s 2024 Afghanistan planning figure counted 6.4 million Afghans as refugees, people in refugee-like situations, or asylum-seekers. In that planning population, women and girls represented 48%, and children represented 45%. The figures are from the Afghanistan situation planning page, and the planning population includes more than one protection status.
Where do refugees live?
Host-country statistics describe where people needing protection are located, but they can include more than one protection category. At mid-2025, Colombia hosted 2.8 million refugees and other forcibly displaced people. Germany and Turkiye each hosted 2.7 million, the Islamic Republic of Iran hosted 2.5 million, and Uganda hosted 1.9 million. These mid-year host totals come from Mid-Year Trends.
| Host country | People hosted at mid-2025 |
|---|---|
| Colombia | 2.8 million |
| Germany | 2.7 million |
| Turkiye | 2.7 million |
| Islamic Republic of Iran | 2.5 million |
| Uganda | 1.9 million |
The economic geography of hosting is also important. At mid-2025, 71% of refugees lived in low- and middle-income countries. Hosting totals therefore cannot be understood only through the largest high-income-country asylum systems.
End-2024 figures provide another time-specific view. Turkiye hosted 2.9 million refugees, making it one of the world’s largest refugee-hosting countries. Germany hosted 2.6 million refugees and was the second-largest refugee-hosting country in Europe. Across Europe, 18.4 million forcibly displaced people were recorded at the end of 2024, 5% fewer than the 19.5 million recorded at the end of 2023. The European figures are reported by UNHCR in Europe.
What do asylum application statistics show?
In 2024, 8.4 million people sought international protection through individual asylum applications, group recognition, or temporary protection. This broad measure included 3.1 million new individual asylum applications, 835,600 people recognized as refugees through group-based procedures, and 954,600 people who received temporary protection.
UNHCR’s Global Trends 2024 reports that 4.8 million people applied for asylum individually, received group recognition, or received temporary protection in 2024, 13% fewer than in 2023. Including repeat and appeal applications, 3.4 million individual asylum applications were registered in 163 countries.
Individual decisions produced 775,900 grants of refugee status through status-determination procedures in 2024. The protection rate in individual asylum procedures was 55%. Even with decisions being made, 8.4 million asylum-seekers were still waiting for a decision at the end of 2024.
The United States received 729,100 new individual asylum applications in 2024, more than any other country in the report. By country of origin among people seeking international protection, Ukraine accounted for 879,100 people, while Sudan accounted for 872,400. These are 2024 application and protection measurements, not a count of the total refugee stock living in each country.
How many refugees return or resettle?
Movement into a durable outcome is measured through several different pathways. In 2024, 1.6 million refugees returned to their country of origin, the highest refugee-return total reported in more than two decades. Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, and Ukraine together received 92% of those returns. These return figures are reported in Global Trends and refer to returns during 2024, not the total number of refugees remaining at year-end.
Resettlement was smaller in scale. In 2024, 188,800 refugees arrived through resettlement and sponsorship pathways in 22 countries, 19% higher than in 2023. Those arrivals represented 8% of the 2.4 million people identified as needing resettlement. More than 60% of refugees resettled globally in 2024 were supported through UNHCR’s resettlement programme.
Permanent status and citizenship were also recorded separately. About 88,900 refugees from 173 countries acquired citizenship or permanent residence in host countries in 2024. That figure was nearly three times the 30,800 recorded in 2023.
United States figures use a different measurement period and should not be compared directly with UNHCR end-year stocks. The United States resettled 100,034 refugees through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in fiscal year 2024, covering October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024, according to the FY 2024 Annual Performance Review. Refugees from 86 countries were admitted in FY2024, according to the Refugee Admissions FAQ. A separate arrivals table recorded 31,585 Amerasian and Special Immigrant Visa arrivals receiving resettlement benefits; that is a benefits-category figure, not a replacement for the USRAP refugee-admissions total (Amerasian & SIV Arrivals).
What do refugee demographics show?
At the end of 2024, women and girls accounted for 50% of refugees and people needing international protection under UNHCR’s mandate. Children accounted for 41% of that population. These are end-2024 demographic shares, not percentages of every displacement category worldwide.
UNHCR’s 2024 global estimate also found that 71% of refugee children and asylum-seeking children were enrolled in primary education, while 46% were enrolled in secondary education. The same estimate reported that 62% of refugees and asylum-seekers felt safe walking alone in their neighborhood after dark. These indicators describe reported global estimates and should not be read as universal outcomes for every host country.
What do registration, education, and health figures show?
Registration and documentation affect access to services and proof of legal identity. By the end of 2024, 91% of refugees and asylum-seekers were individually registered in the 98 countries reporting this indicator. In 2024, more than 3.4 million people were registered by UNHCR, including 2.9 million newly registered in its proGres system. The new proGres registrations were 426,000 higher than in 2023.
More than 4.6 million people received civil-status, identity, or legal-status documents in 88 countries in 2024. Among countries reporting the relevant indicator, 70% of refugee children under age five had their births registered in 2024. These registration and documentation figures come from UNHCR Global Report 2024.
Pakistan’s results are a country survey, not a global estimate. In the Forced Displacement Survey—Pakistan 2024, 46% of refugee children under five had a birth certificate, compared with 81% of host-community children. About 90,000 refugee children under five lacked a birth-registration document. The survey also found that one-third of refugee children under five were stunted and 8% were wasted. These findings apply to the survey population and measurement period in Pakistan; they do not establish worldwide rates.