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The 10 Countries the Most People Have Been Forced to Flee |
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UNHCR’s Global Trends report counted 35.6 million people living abroad under its protection at the end of 2025. Six countries produced more than 70% of them. The largest source has no front line. It is Venezuela, and most of its 6.46 million people abroad have never been classed as refugees. |
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Source: UNHCR Global Trends 2025 (released 11 June 2026) and Refugee Data Finder. Refugees plus others in need of international protection, end-2025. |
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| What's Surprising |
Venezuela tops the list without a war. 6.46 million Venezuelans live abroad in need of protection. That is more than one for every five people still in the country. Only 417,010 hold formal refugee status. UNHCR counts the other 6.04 million as “other people in need of international protection.” Another 1.18 million Venezuelans are waiting on asylum claims. They are not in the chart.
Afghanistan fell from 5.8 million to 3.7 million in a single year. Peace did not cause it. Iran and Pakistan had hosted Afghans since the Soviet invasion of 1979. In 2025 both tightened their rules, and 1.9 million Afghan refugees went home, five times the year before. UNHCR says many had little choice.
Syria fell too, from 6.0 million to 4.9 million. The Assad government collapsed in December 2024. About 1.3 million Syrian refugees returned in 2025, nearly triple the year before. For more than a decade Syria was one of the world’s largest displacement crises. It now ranks third. Another 5.5 million Syrians are still displaced inside the country.
| What's Not Surprising |
Sudan is the world’s largest displacement crisis. Its refugee count rose 35% in 2025, to 2.82 million. Another 9.1 million Sudanese are displaced inside the country. Add asylum seekers and the total reaches 12.9 million people.
Ukraine is the only European country on the list. Its refugee count still rose, to 5.22 million, as the war ran through its fourth year. Inside Ukraine, 3.7 million more are displaced. The other eight are in Africa and Asia. The bottom half reads like a list of long wars: Myanmar, Congo, Somalia, the Central African Republic.
Refugees rarely go far. UNHCR says 65% shelter in a neighbouring country. Colombia hosts 2.8 million people in need of protection, almost all of them Venezuelan. Germany hosts 2.7 million. Türkiye hosts 2.4 million. Palestinians are counted separately, under UNRWA. Their 6 million would rank second.
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6.04 million Venezuelans abroad whom UNHCR does not classify as refugees. It counts them as people in need of international protection. No other nationality comes close. |
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1.9 million Afghan refugees who went home in 2025, five times the year before. UNHCR says most left because Iran and Pakistan changed their policies. |
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35% Rise in Sudanese refugees in 2025, to 2.82 million. Sudan’s war began in April 2023. It is now the world’s largest displacement crisis. |
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71% Share of the world’s 35.6 million refugees and others in need of protection who come from six countries: Venezuela, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and South Sudan. |
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1 in 5 South Sudan’s refugees equal one for every five people still living there. 2.39 million abroad. 11.9 million at home. |
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UNHCR publishes its mid-2026 figures next. Last year’s edition came out on 4 November, so this year’s is due any day. Three things to track. First, whether Syrian and Afghan returns keep their pace. Second, Sudan, where the war is in its fourth year. Third, the new war in the Middle East. UNHCR says 3.2 million people were temporarily displaced inside Iran by the end of March, and about 1 million in Lebanon by mid-May. Neither shows up on this chart yet. We’ll be watching. |
