The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Thursday that the number of people displaced worldwide by conflict and persecution fell in 2025 for the first time in ten years. However, the agency warned that levels of refugees facing long-term displacement remain unacceptably high.
Key Figures from the Report
In 2025, 5.4 million people fled their homes, bringing the total number of refugees or people in refugee-like situations globally to 41.6 million, including 6 million Palestinian refugees. At the same time, approximately 14.7 million refugees and internally displaced people returned home, marking a 50 percent increase from the previous year and the second-highest figure recorded since 1965.
Returns to Difficult Conditions
Most returns occurred in six countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Myanmar. However, many returnees faced difficult conditions marked by limited access to basic services, widespread infrastructure damage, and ongoing insecurity. UNHCR raised concerns over the sustainability and safety of these returns.
About 2.9 million Afghans returned in 2025, including 1.9 million refugees—five times higher than the previous year. This was driven mainly by stricter policies in neighboring Iran and Pakistan, with many reporting they had little choice but to leave. This sharp rise reduced the global Afghan refugee population from 5.8 million in 2024 to 3.7 million in 2025.
Syria, which had been one of the world's largest displacement crises for over a decade, saw around 1.3 million people return in 2025—nearly triple the previous year—following the fall of Bashar Assad's government in December 2024. This reduced the global Syrian refugee population from 6 million to 4.9 million by the end of 2025. However, the report noted that many returnees face serious challenges, including insecurity, widespread destruction, weak economic conditions, limited services and jobs, and continued sporadic violence in parts of the country.
Displacement Trends in 2026
The report highlighted that the crisis in the Middle East has already shaped global displacement trends in 2026. Around 3.2 million people have been temporarily displaced in Iran since joint US-Israeli strikes at the end of February, while about one million people have been forced from their homes in Lebanon since the start of the war on March 2, amid Israeli strikes and evacuation orders.
UNHCR's Goal to Halve Refugee Numbers
UNHCR aims to halve the number of refugees and others in protracted displacement requiring humanitarian assistance by 2035. This would be achieved by supporting job creation and education opportunities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where most refugees are hosted. Globally, 70 percent of refugees have been in exile for five years or more, often in countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkiye, and Iran.
UNHCR High Commissioner Barham Salih stated: "Asylum and protection are life-saving and not up for debate, but we cannot accept a future in which millions of refugees remain trapped for years or decades without realistic prospects of rebuilding their lives." Part of the initiative includes promoting voluntary returns, as well as enabling refugees to access education and employment in host countries so they can financially support themselves and become less aid-dependent.
