Nearly 118 million people were displaced by conflict and persecution last year, UN says

Women and children fetch water at dusk in the Korsi Refugee Camp in Birao, the Central African Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)

The UN refugee agency said forced displacement of people due to conflict or persecution fell in 2025 for the first time in a decade. But the agency warned in its annual report Thursday that 118 million people who had to flee their homes or nations is still alarmingly high.

A look at the agency’s Global Trends Report on refugees and displaced people, by the numbers:

118 million

The total number of people forcibly displaced by conflict, violence or persecution at the end of 2025 was 117.8 million. The figure includes refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced and other groups in need of international protection. It’s the first time in a decade the statistic fell. Behind the decline is both an increase in people who returned home and the fact that many refugees acquired citizenship of their host countries, among other reasons, said Tarek Abou Chabake, the UN agency’s chief statistician. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees warned the number of those displaced globally, mostly by conflict, was unacceptably high.

39 per cent

Percentage of children among 41.6 million refugees last year. While Colombia, Germany and Turkiye hosted more than 2 million refugees each, the majority live in low- to middle-income countries. Despite a 3 per cent fall from the previous year, 5.4 million people crossed an international border in 2025 seeking refuge.

7 out of 10

Seven out of 10 refugees have lived in exile for five years or more, often trapped in sprawling camps in poor nations. “Humanitarian assistance has saved lives,” High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih said, adding that “it was never intended to sustain generations of people indefinitely.” The agency aims to slash by half the number of refugees in protracted displacement who are dependent on humanitarian assistance by 2035.

69 million

The number of internally displaced people. The ongoing war in Sudan was behind the largest displacement in the world with 9.1 million people forced to flee their homes. Colombia, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan also have large displaced populations.

Projections for 2026 did not look much better. With the Iran war erupting in February, 3.2 million people had been displaced by March inside Iran, and by mid-May, 1 million were displaced inside Lebanon. “This is truly unacceptable and we must make sure this doesn’t become a new normal,” Salih said.

3

Three countries — Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan — saw 90 per cent of the 4.4 million refugee return home in 2025. The number was the second highest since UNHCR began keeping records six decades ago. Another 10.3 million internally displaced people returned to their areas of origin last year. But Salih warned that many of those who went back did so under pressure and without basic infrastructure and conditions for a dignified life. “Voluntary returns to post-conflict Syria and returns under pressure to Afghanistan are not the same thing,” Salih said.

4.5 million

The number of stateless people, of which the Rohingya from Myanmar make up the largest group. The majority of the stateless people live in Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Thailand and Myanmar. Only 46,000 acquired citizenship in 2025.

82,000

The number of refugees resettled, which fell sharply from 188,000 in 2024. That’s a fraction of those in need, Salih said, as he urged governments to expand legal pathways for refugees to be relocated. “Every dangerous sea crossing and every death in the desert represents a failure of the international community,” Salih said. “The human cost of the failure is measured not with statistics but with lives.”

Renata Brito, The Associated Press