Refugees: Countries of Origin

The Numbers

Not counting Palestinians, whose international legal status is tracked separately by the U.N., there are today around 25.9 million refugees in the world. Counting also internally displaced people, who have been forced from their homes but haven't left their home countries, the number rises to over 65.6 million people. Within that population, 10 million are stateless; a stateless individual can claim citizenship to no country, and so lacks all privileges and protections of citizenship.

Over 50% of refugees are being hosted in Africa and the Middle East. Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Iran together host around 6 million refugees.  

From the last report in 2016, the biggest change came from the major escalation of violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar. One can reasonably assume that the refugee numbers for Myanmar are higher than reported here on the table.