As of 2025, an alarming 123.2 million individuals, roughly one in 67 people worldwide, are estimated to be forcibly displaced, as indicated in a recent report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
This represents a rise of 7 million—approximately 6 percent—compared to the end of 2023, continuing a concerning trend over the past 13 years of increasing displacement globally.
Interestingly, the UNHCR noted a slight decrease in forced displacement in the initial months of 2025, bringing the figure down to 122.1 million by the end of April.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, commented, “We are facing a time of extreme instability in global relations, driven by modern conflicts that create a devastating and perilous reality filled with human suffering. We must intensify our efforts to pursue peace and establish sustainable solutions for refugees and others forced to abandon their homes.”
Out of the total forcibly displaced population, approximately 73.5 million individuals are internally displaced within their countries due to conflict or crises. This marks an increase of 6.3 million from 2023, meaning that internally displaced persons (IDPs) make up about 60 percent of the total displaced population worldwide.
In Gaza, the situation remains dire, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimating that nearly 90 percent of the population—over 2 million people—have been uprooted due to ongoing military actions.
As for refugees, the 2024 figures stood at 42.7 million, a decline of 613,600 from the previous year. Of this cohort, 31 million are under UNHCR’s jurisdiction, while 5.9 million are Palestinian refugees under UNRWA, with another 5.9 million requiring international protection.
The decrease in refugee numbers reflects lower estimates of Afghan and Syrian refugees, as well as updates in reporting regarding Ukrainian refugees. However, the number of Sudanese refugees surged by nearly 600,000, totaling 2.1 million.
The count of asylum seekers—individuals pursuing refuge in other countries due to fear of persecution—reached 8.4 million, marking a 22 percent increase from the previous year.
This statistic highlights the troubling reality that now one in 67 people globally is displaced.
Historical Trends in Forced Displacement
The Refugee Convention, established by the UN in 1951 to safeguard refugees’ rights in post-World War II Europe, has since evolved globally, addressing a wider array of displacement circumstances from 1967 onward.
At the inception of the Refugee Convention, only 2.1 million refugees were recorded. By 1980, this number had surpassed 10 million for the first time. Conflicts in Afghanistan and Ethiopia during the 1980s contributed to a doubling of the refugee population to 20 million by 1990.
The following two decades saw relatively stable numbers. However, the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, coupled with civil wars in South Sudan and Syria, led to a dramatic increase, pushing refugee counts beyond 30 million by the end of 2021.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which began in 2022, has led to one of the most accelerated refugee crises since World War II, driving 5.7 million individuals to flee Ukraine in less than a year. By the end of 2023, around six million Ukrainians found themselves forcibly displaced.
Moreover, the number of IDPs has doubled over the last decade, with a significant rise observed since 2020. The conflict in Sudan between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces has resulted in the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 14.3 million Sudanese displaced by the end of 2024—3.5 million more than the previous year.
Origins of Displaced Populations
In 2024, over one-third of all forcibly displaced individuals globally originated from Sudan (14.3 million), Syria (13.5 million), Afghanistan (10.3 million), or Ukraine (8.8 million).
Returns of IDPs and Refugees
In 2024, around 1.6 million refugees returned to their home countries.
“Nevertheless, many returned to areas like Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, and Ukraine, which remain unstable and volatile,” stated Matthew Saltmarsh, media head at UNHCR. “Such returns to conflict-ridden regions tend to be precarious and often infeasible.”
In the same year, 8.2 million IDPs returned to their original communities.
The UNHCR reports that nine out of ten returnees chose to reintegrate into just eight countries, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Lebanon, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine.
“Significant IDP returns were recorded in areas that concurrently experienced extensive new displacements, such as the DRC (2.4 million), Myanmar (378,000), Syria (514,000), and Ukraine (782,000),” added Saltmarsh.
“Even amid significant challenges, we have witnessed some glimmers of hope in the past six months,” Grandi said. “Nearly two million Syrians have managed to return home after being displaced for over a decade. The situation remains precarious, and these individuals require our support to rebuild their lives effectively.”