What the latest figures reveal about the state of the world’s refugees

What the latest figures reveal about the state of the world’s refugees
Refugees return back to Al-Alam town, northeast of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, after the town was recaptured from Daesh in 2015. (AFP/File)
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Updated 22 June 2025
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What the latest figures reveal about the state of the world’s refugees

What the latest figures reveal about the state of the world’s refugees
  • The vast majority of the world’s displaced remain in poorer countries, challenging the narrative of a crisis centered on wealthy nations
  • Humanitarian agencies warn of deep funding gaps that place support for those displaced by conflict, disaster and economic collapse at risk

LONDON: There are not many people who would consider starting over at the age of 103. But for father, grandfather and great-grandfather Jassim, who has spent the past decade in exile in Lebanon with his family, the dramatic end of the Syrian civil war meant he could finally return home.

And in May, Jassim did just that.

In 2013, after their hometown in Syria’s Homs Governorate was caught in the crossfire of the country’s bitter civil war, Jassim and the surviving members of his family fled.

Not all of them would make the journey to relative safety and a makeshift tent camp near Baalbek in eastern Lebanon. During one period of intense fighting three of his children were killed when a shell fell near the family’s house.




Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon are seen at the al-Zamrani crossing on May 14, 2024. (SANA photo via AFP/File)

For Jassim, holding the memory of their loss deep in his heart, the return last month to the town of Al-Qusayr after 12 years as refugees in another country was achingly poignant.

“You raise your children to see them grow and bring life to your home,” he said, speaking through a translator for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. “Now they are gone.”

As the family discovered when they arrived back in Al-Qusayr last month, the home in which they had been raised was also gone.

“It was a bittersweet moment,” Jassim said. “I was happy to return to the place where I was born and raised but devastated to see my home reduced to rubble.”




Refugees travel with their belongings in the Syrian Arab Republic. (AFP)

Although they are back in their own country, the future for Jassim’s family remains uncertain. With luck they are on the cusp of a fresh start, but for Jassim returning to the land of his birth has a more final meaning.

“I came back to die in Syria,” he said.

UNHCR says about 550,000 Syrian refugees returned home between December and the end of May, along with a further 1.3 million displaced within the country. This is one of the brighter spots in UNHCR’s 2025 Global Trends report, published in the lead-up to World Refugee Day on June 20.

Overall, the report, which contains the latest statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, the internally displaced and stateless people worldwide, makes for predictably gloomy reading.




Infographic from the UNHCR's Global Trends 2025 report

As of the end of 2024, it found that 123.2 million people — about one in 67 globally — were forcibly displaced “as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order.” This figure includes 5.9 million Palestinian refugees.

Of the 123.2 million, 42.7 million are refugees seeking sanctuary in a foreign country, and of these about 6.6 million are from countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Unsurprisingly, the largest number of refugees in the region under the UNHCR’s mandate in 2024 were from Syria — accounting for 5.9 million. But other numbers, although smaller, serve as a reminder of conflicts currently overshadowed by events in Syria and Gaza.

More than 300,000 Iraqi refugees were registered in 2024, along with 51,348 from Yemen, 23,736 from Egypt, 17,235 from Libya and 10,609 from Morocco.




Palestinians transport a casualty pulled from the rubble of a house targeted in an Israeli strike at the al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 15, 2025. (AFP)

Amid the devastation in Gaza since October 2023, and rising settler violence in the occupied West Bank, nearly as many Palestinians have fled as refugees in 2024 — 43,712 — as have been killed in Gaza.

Globally, there is a glimmer of hope. In the second half of 2024 the rate of forced displacement slowed and, says UNHCR, “operational data and initial estimates for 2025 indicate that global forced displacement may begin to fall during 2025.”

Indeed, the agency estimates that by the end of April 2025 the total number of forcibly displaced people — a term that includes people displaced within their own country and those seeking refuge in another state — had fallen by 1 percent to 122.1 million.

But whether that trend continues depends very much on several factors, said Tarik Argaz, spokesperson for UNHCR’s regional bureau for the Middle East and North Africa in Amman, Jordan.

There are, Argaz told Arab News, undoubtedly “signs of hope in the report, particularly in the area of solutions. But during the remainder of 2025, much will depend on the dynamics in key situations.

“While we should keep hopes high, we have to be very careful in interpreting the trends in the international scene,” including “whether the situation in South Sudan does not deteriorate further, and whether conditions for return improve, in particular in Afghanistan and Syria.”

In 2024, about 9.8 million forcibly displaced people worldwide were able to return home, including 1.6 million refugees — the highest number for more than two decades — and 8.2 million internally displaced people — the second highest total yet recorded. 

However, Argaz said, “it must be acknowledged that many of these returns were under duress or in adverse conditions to countries like Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine, which remain fragile.”




Infographic from the UNHCR's Global Trends 2025 report

For Syrians in particular, “there is uncertainty and significant risks, especially for minority groups. Syrians in the country and those returning from abroad need support with shelter, access to basic services such as water, sanitation, employment and legal assistance, among other things,” he said.

“The economic conditions remain dire, while the security situation remains fragile in many parts of the country.”

And while Jassim and his family are pleased to be back in Syria, UNHCR is concerned that not all Syrian refugees are returning entirely of their own free will.

“UNHCR is supporting those who are choosing to return,” Argaz said. “But returns should be safe, voluntary and dignified. We continue to call on states not to forcibly return Syrians to any part of Syria and to continue allowing civilians fleeing Syria access to territory and to seek asylum.”

The Global Trends report also highlights the burden placed on host countries by refugees.

IN NUMBERS

550,000 Syrian refugees returned home between December and the end of May.

6.6 million people forcibly displaced from MENA countries as of December 2024.

Source: UNHCR

Relative to the size of its population, Lebanon was hosting the largest number of refugees of any country in the world in 2024, accounting for one in eight of the population. 

Lebanon’s already complex situation was further complicated in September 2024 when the war between Israel and Hezbollah displaced nearly a million people within the country.

By the end of April, there were still 90,000 people internally displaced in Lebanon. But between September and October last year the conflict led to an estimated 557,000 people fleeing Lebanon for Syria — of whom over 60 percent were Syrians who had originally sought sanctuary in Lebanon. 




Lebanese security forces deploy to organize the crowd as people, mostly Syrians, arrive from their country to the Masnaa border crossing on the way to Lebanon on December 9, 2024. (AFP)

The issue of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa has become a delicate matter in Europe, with right-wing parties winning votes over the issue and centrist governments taking anti-migrant stances to assuage increasingly angry voters.

“But contrary to perceptions in the global North,” Argaz said, “60 percent of forcibly displaced people stay within their own country, as internally displaced people. Of those who leave as refugees, 67 percent go to neighboring countries — low and middle-income countries host 73 percent of the world’s refugees.”

For example, at the end of 2024, almost 80 percent of the 6.1 million Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers were hosted by neighboring countries — 2.9 million in Turkiye, 755,000 in Lebanon, 611,000 in Jordan, 304,000 in Iraq and 134,000 in Egypt.

The situation in Sudan and South Sudan is particularly perilous. Sudan’s two million refugees, although scattered across dozens of countries, from Algeria to Zimbabwe, are concentrated mainly in Chad, South Sudan and Libya, with tens of thousands each in countries including Egypt, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Uganda, with sizable numbers in the UK and France.

Despite offering refuge to almost half a million refugees from Sudan, 2.29 million South Sudanese are seeking sanctuary elsewhere — in Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and, in a reflection of the internecine nature of the violence in the region, Sudan.




Sudanese people who fled the Zamzam camp for the internally displaced after it fell under RSF control, rest in a makeshift encampment in an open field near the town of Tawila in the country's western Darfur region on April 13, 2025. (AFP)

For all the world’s refugees and internally displaced, UNHCR is the lifeline on which they depend, both for support while displaced and upon returning to shattered lives and homes. But with donor nations slashing funds, this work is under threat.

“Severe cuts in global funding announced this year have caused upheaval across the humanitarian sector, putting millions of lives at risk,” Argaz said.

“We call for continuing funding of UNHCR programs that save lives, assist refugees and IDPs returning home and reinforce basic infrastructure and social services in host communities as an essential investment in regional and global security.

“In addition, more responsibility sharing from the rest of the world with the countries that host the bulk of refugees is crucial and needed.”




Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, briefs members of the UN Security Council. (UN Photo/Loey Felipe)

In December, UNHCR announced it had secured a record $1.5 billion in early funding from several countries for 2025. But, as Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said at the time, “generous as it is, humanitarian funding is not keeping pace with the growing needs.”

The funding commitment of $1.5 billion represents only 15 percent of the estimated $10.248 billion UNHCR says it will need for the whole of 2025. Of that total, the single largest proportions, $2.167 and $2.122 billion respectively, will be spent on projects in East Africa and in the Middle East and North Africa.
 

 


Former Israeli defense minister expresses regret for civilian deaths in Gaza, Iran

Former Israeli defense minister expresses regret for civilian deaths in Gaza, Iran
Updated 25 sec ago
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Former Israeli defense minister expresses regret for civilian deaths in Gaza, Iran

Former Israeli defense minister expresses regret for civilian deaths in Gaza, Iran

DUBAI: Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz expressed regret over civilian casualties in recent conflicts, saying he mourns the loss of life on all sides, Al Arabiya English reported. 

"I'm very sorry for every Iranian civilian that was killed, just as I'm very sorry for every citizen in Gaza who is being killed," Gantz said.

His comments come amid continued violence in Gaza and following a tense standoff between Israel and Iran. Gantz is one of the few senior Israeli officials to publicly acknowledge the suffering of civilians on both sides of the conflict.


Turkey arrests 120 in opposition bastion Izmir

Turkey arrests 120 in opposition bastion Izmir
Updated 10 min 14 sec ago
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Turkey arrests 120 in opposition bastion Izmir

Turkey arrests 120 in opposition bastion Izmir
ISTANBUL: Turkish police have arrested 120 city hall members in the opposition bastion of Izmir, local media and the CHP opposition party said on Tuesday.

A former mayor and numerous "senior officials" were among those detained, Murat Bakan, the vice president of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which has run the country's third-largest city for years, wrote on X. The arrests came three months after a similar operation in opposition-run Istanbul.

PKK disarmament process to begin early July: report

PKK disarmament process to begin early July: report
Updated 01 July 2025
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PKK disarmament process to begin early July: report

PKK disarmament process to begin early July: report
  • The pro-Kurdish DEM party, which has played a key role in facilitating contacts between the jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish government, said it was likely to happen in the second week of July

ISTANBUL: Militants from the PKK will begin laying down their weapons at a disarmament ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan in early July, the Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported on Monday.
The move comes just six weeks after the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced it was ending more than four decades of guerrilla warfare in a conflict that claimed over 40,000 lives.
Turkey's Kurdish minority is hoping the PKK's decision will pave the way for a political settlement with Ankara that will herald a new openness to the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey's population of 85 million.
The pro-Kurdish DEM party, which has played a key role in fa cilitating contacts between the jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish government, said it was likely to happen in the second week of July.
"It seems these developments are likely to happen next week," Sezai Temelli, vice president of DEM's parliamentary group told lawmakers on Monday.
He said a delegation of DEM lawmakers was planning to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "on July 8 or 9 after which they would visit the political parties then go to Imrali" -- the island where Ocalan has been jailed since 1999.
Last week, Erdogan also said he would meet the DEM delegation in the coming days.
"We are pleased with the progress made in a short time by the work towards a terror-free Turkey," he said after the weekly cabinet meeting on Monday, using Ankara's shorthand for the peace process.
"Recent events in our region have confirmed how accurate and strategic a step this process is," he said of Turkey's efforts to rebuild ties with its Kurdish minority as the Middle East undergoes seismic changes triggered by the Gaza war.

Citing two sources in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Rudaw said the move would be both a "trust-building step" and a "goodwill gesture" to advance the reconciliation process with Turkey.
According to the sources, the ceremony would take place in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan's second-biggest city.
Most of the PKK's fighters have spent the past decade in the mountains of northern Iraq, where Turkey also maintains military bases and has carried out frequent operations against Kurdish fighters.
"Between July 3 and 10, a group of PKK members, probably numbering between 20 and 30, will lay down their weapons in a ceremony to be held in Sulaimaniyah," Rudaw said.
The sources said Ocalan was expected to issue a new message regarding the resolution process "in the next few days".
"After that, the disarmament process will officially begin," they said.
Quoting one of the sources, Rudaw said that after laying down their weapons, the militants would "then return to their bases, unarmed", denying reports they would be held in certain cities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
"The guerrillas will return to their bases after disarming. It is out of the question for them to go to any city," the source said.
Until now, there has been little detail about how the dissolution mechanism would work but the Turkish government has said it would carefully monitor the process to ensure full implementation.

 


Rockets fired at Iraq airport, two wounded: security official

Rockets fired at Iraq airport, two wounded: security official
Updated 01 July 2025
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Rockets fired at Iraq airport, two wounded: security official

Rockets fired at Iraq airport, two wounded: security official
  • “Two Katyusha rockets fell in the military section of Kirkuk airport,” slightly wounding two security personnel, the official said

KIRKUK, Iraq: Two rockets struck the military section of Kirkuk airport in northern Iraq late on Monday, slightly wounding two security personnel, a senior security official told AFP.
Another rocket fell on a house in the city of Kirkuk, causing material damage.
“Two Katyusha rockets fell in the military section of Kirkuk airport,” slightly wounding two security personnel, the official said, requesting anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media.
One rocket did not explode, according to the official.
“A third rocket struck a house in the Uruba neighborhood,” causing material damage, the source added.
The military sector of Kirkuk’s airport includes bases for the Iraqi Army, the federal police, and the Hashed Al-Shaabi, a coalition of former pro-Iranian paramilitary forces now integrated into the regular armed forces.
A security source told the official INA news agency that two rockets struck the military air base at Kirkuk airport, one of which fell near the runaways, and another hit a house in the city.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks.
Kirkuk International Airport management said that there was no damage at the airport and that the attack did not disrupt flights.
Iraq has long been a battleground of drone and rocket assaults and proved fertile ground for proxy wars.
But it only recently regained a semblance of stability after decades of devastating conflicts and turmoil.
Last week, hours before a ceasefire ended the 12-day Iran-Israel war, unidentified drones struck radar systems at two military bases in Baghdad and southern Iraq.
The government said it launched a probe into the drone attacks, but it has not yet identified any perpetrators.


Netanyahu will visit the White House next Monday as Trump presses for a ceasefire in Gaza

Netanyahu will visit the White House next Monday as Trump presses for a ceasefire in Gaza
Updated 01 July 2025
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Netanyahu will visit the White House next Monday as Trump presses for a ceasefire in Gaza

Netanyahu will visit the White House next Monday as Trump presses for a ceasefire in Gaza
  • “I do know he has expressed interest in coming to Washington and meeting with the president, and we are working on a date for that,” Leavitt added
  • Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is in Washington this week for talks with senior administration officials on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other matters

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks at the White House next Monday as the US leader steps up his push on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war in Gaza.
The impending visit was confirmed by two US administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on it.
The trip will be Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House since Trump returned to office in January, and it comes after the United States inserted itself into Israel’s war against Iran by attacking Iranian nuclear sites. After brokering a ceasefire between the two countries, Trump has signaled that he’s turning his attention to bringing a close to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Trump on Friday told reporters that “we think within the next week we’re going to get a ceasefire” in Gaza, but didn’t offer any further explanation for his optimism.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump and administration officials were in constant communication with Israeli leadership and that bringing about an end to the Gaza conflict is a priority for Trump.
“It’s heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end,” Leavitt added. “He wants to save lives.”
Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is in Washington this week for talks with senior administration officials on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other matters.
Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over a major sticking point — whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement. About 50 hostages remain captive in Gaza, with less than half believed to be alive.
With Netanyahu’s visit, the timing of which was first reported by Axios, Trump will embrace the Israeli leader while continuing to push back against skeptical questions from Democratic lawmakers and others about how far US and Israeli strikes have set back Iran’s nuclear program.
A preliminary report issued by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, meanwhile, said the strikes did significant damage to the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, but did not totally destroy the facilities.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the three Iranian sites with “capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree.” But, he added, “some is still standing,” and that because capabilities remain, “if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.” He said assessing the full damage comes down to Iran allowing inspectors access.
Trump in recent days has also inserted himself into Israeli domestic affairs, calling for charges against Netanyahu in his ongoing corruption trial to be thrown out. He has condemned the trial as a “WITCH HUNT” and vowed that the United States will be the one who “saves” Netanyahu from serious corruption charges.
The decision by Trump to plunge himself into one of Israel’s most heated debates has unnerved some in its political class.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Monday approved a new half-billion-dollar arms sale to Israel to resupply its military with bomb guidance kits for precision munitions.
The State Department said the sale is worth $510 million. It includes more than 7,000 guidance kits for two different types of Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs.
The deal is relatively small given that the US provides Israel with more than $3 billion annually in military aid. But Israel has relied on JDAMs and other related US weaponry in its war against Hamas in Gaza and its recent strikes against Iran.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the department said in a statement. “This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives.”