GLObaL LEADER ON StatISTICS ON REfugEES Trends at a Glance 2015 IN REVIEW Global forced displacement has increased in 2015, with record-high numbers. By the end of the year, 65.3 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations. This is 5.8 million more than the previous year (59.5 million). MILLION FORCIBLY DISPLACED If these 65.3 million persons 65.3 WORLDWIDE were a nation, they would make up the 21st largest in the world. 21.3 million persons were refugees 16.1 million under UNHCR’s mandate 5.2 million Palestinian refugees registered by UNRWA 40.8 million internally displaced persons1 3.2 million asylum-seekers 12.4 24 86 MILLION PER CENT An estimated 12.4 million people were newly displaced Developing regions hosted 86 per due to conflict or persecution in cent of the world’s refugees under 2015. This included 8.6 million UNHCR’s mandate. At 13.9 million individuals displaced2 within people, this was the highest the borders of their own country figure in more than two decades. and 1.8 million newly displaced The Least Developed Countries refugees.3 The others were new provided asylum to 4.2 million applicants for asylum. refugees or about 26 per cent of the global total. 3.7 PERSONS MILLION EVERY MINUTE 183/1000 UNHCR estimates that REFUGEES / at least 10 million people On average 24 people INHABITANTS globally were stateless at the worldwide were displaced from end of 2015. However, data their homes every minute of Lebanon hosted the largest recorded by governments and every day during 2015 – some number of refugees in relation communicated to UNHCR were 34,000 people per day. This to its national population, limited to 3.7 million stateless compares to 30 per minute in with 183 refugees per 1,000 individuals in 78 countries. 2014 and 6 per minute in 2005. inhabitants. Jordan (87) and 1 Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Nauru (50) ranked second and 2 Ibid. 3 The number of newly displaced refugees does not include applications for asylum whose third, respectively. refugee status has yet to be determined 02 UNHCR Global Trends 2015 54 SYRIAN ARAB REP. (4.9 million) P E R AFGHANISTAN CENT (2.7 million) SOMALIA (1.1 million) More than half (54%) of all refugees worldwide came from just three countries: the Syrian Arab Republic (4.9 million), Afghanistan 3.2 (2.7 million), and Somalia (1.1 million). MILLION ASYLUM-SEEKERS 201,400 2.0 REfugEES MILLION By end-2015, about 3.2 million REtuRNED ASYLUM APPLICATIONS people were waiting for a decision on their application During 2015, only 201,400 Asylum-seekers submitted a for asylum. refugees returned to their record high number of new countries of origin. Most applications for asylum or returned to Afghanistan (61,400), refugee status – estimated Sudan (39,500), Somalia at 2.0 million. With 441,900 107,100 (32,300), or the Central African asylum claims, Germany was RESEttLEMENT Republic (21,600). the world’s largest recipient of new individual applications, In 2015, UNHCR submitted followed by the United States 134,000 refugees to States of America (172,700), Sweden for resettlement. According to 51 (156,400), and the Russian government statistics, States PER CENT Federation (152,500). admitted 107,100 refugees for resettlement during the Children below 18 years of age year, with or without UNHCR’s constituted about half of the assistance. The United States of refugee population in 2015, up 98,400 America accepted the highest from 41 per cent in 2009 and UNACCOMPANIED number (66,500). the same as in 2014. OR SEPARatED CHILDREN 1. TURKEY (2.5 MILLION) Unaccompanied or separated TOP 2. PAKISTAN (1.6 MILLION) children in 78 countries – 3. LEBANON (1.1 MILLION) mainly Afghans, Eritreans, HOST 4. ISLAMIC REP. OF IRAN (979,400) Syrians, and Somalis – lodged 5. EtHIOPIA (736,100) some 98,400 asylum 6. JORDAN (664,100) applications in 2015. This was the highest number on record For the second consecutive year, Turkey hosted the since UNHCR started collecting largest number of refugees worldwide, with 2.5 million people. such data in 2006. UNHCR Global Trends 2015 03 Young Syrian boy flies a homemade kite made from a piece of insulation in Azraq Camp, Jordan – home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. 04 UNHCR Global Trends 2015 “We are facing the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time. Above all, this is not just a crisis of numbers; it is also a crisis of solidarity.” Ban Ki Moon, United Nations Secretary General I. INTRODUCTION IN 2015, FORCED DISPLACEMENT CONtiNUED TO AFFECT AN EVER-INCREASING NUMBER OF PEOPLE, REACHING 65.3 MILLION4 INDIVIDUALS BY THE END OF THE YEAR. hile the rate of increase has slowed com- The total number of refugees and internally dis- pared with the particularly sharp rises placed persons (IDPs) protected or assisted by W of the past couple of years, the current UNHCR stood at 52.6 million, compared to 46.7 mil- number of displaced globally is nonetheless the high- lion at the end of 2014. During the course of 2015 IG W est since the aftermath of World War II. more than 12.4 million individuals were forced to leave ER HER ER Since 2011, when UNHCR announced a new re- their homes and seek protection elsewhere; of this H cord of 42.5 million forcibly displaced people glob- TOP S 4 These included 21.3 million refugees: 16.1 million under UNHCR’s RI ally, these numbers have risen sharply each year, mandate and 5.2 million Palestinian refugees registered with the H United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees / C / from 45.2 million in 2012 to 51.2 million in 2013 and R in the Near East (UNRWA). The global figure also included 40.8 HC 59.5 million in 2014. This is an increase of more than million internally displaced persons (source: IDMC) and close to UN 3.2 million individuals whose asylum applications had not yet © © 50 per cent in five years. been adjudicated by the end of the reporting period. UNHCR Global Trends 2015 05 Fig.1 Trend of global displacement & proportion displaced | 1996 - 2015 (end-year) Refugees and asylum-seekers Internally displaced persons Proportion displaced 70 10 9 60 8 50 7 roportion displaced 6 P 40 5 isplaced population (millions) 30 D 4 20 3 2 10 1 (number displaced per 1,000 world population) 0 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 number, some 8.6 million remained within their own an ever-increasing number of individuals, families, countries and around 1.8 million sought international and communities, as well as a rising proportion of the protection abroad. In addition, 2.0 million new claims world population. for asylum were made within the year. The conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, which en- The global population of forcibly displaced peo- tered its fifth year in 2015, garnered significant world- ple today is larger than the entire population of the wide attention because of the large refugee flows United Kingdom.5 If they were a country, the forci- and humanitarian needs it generated. Yet other unre- bly displaced would be the 21st largest in the world. solved crises and conflicts, as well as new ones that Some nationalities were particularly affected by arose during the year, also contributed to the increase forced displacement. With 4.9 million refugees, 6.6 in global forced displacement. These included new million IDPs, and nearly 250,000 asylum-seekers, or reignited conflicts in Burundi, Iraq, Libya, Niger, an estimated 11.7 million Syrians were displaced by and Nigeria, together with older or unresolved cri- end-2015, seeking protection within Syria or abroad. ses in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Other large displaced populations – those with over Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and 2 million people displaced, either internally or as refu- Yemen. As a consequence, 2015 saw 1.8 million new gees or asylum-seekers – at the end of 2015 were refugees, compared to 1.2 million in 2014. Yet while Afghans, Colombians, Congolese, Iraqis, Nigerians, the number of people newly displaced within their Somalis, Sudanese, South Sudanese, and Yemenis. own country due to conflict and violence in 2015 re- The global population of forcibly displaced peo- mained high at 8.6 million, it was less than the record ple has increased substantially in the past two dec- 11 million recorded the previous year. ades, rising from 37.3 million in 1996 to 65.3 million To put these numbers in perspective, on average in 2015 – a 75 per cent increase. From 1999 to 2011 24 individuals worldwide were newly displaced eve- this population remained relatively stable, fluctuating ry minute during 2015. This compares to 30 people at around six individuals per 1,000, or about one in per minute a year ago, which remains the highest about every 167 people.6 Since then, however, and such figure on record FIGurE 2 . Although the rate at coinciding with the beginning of the ‘Arab Spring’ which individuals were forced to leave their homes and the Syrian conflict, this proportion has increased due to conflict and persecution decreased in 2015 dramatically, rising to nearly nine per 1,000 by the end 5 Source for population size: United Nations, Population Division, of 2015 or one in about every 113 people FIGurE 1 .