Chapter 2
Figure 8 | People displaced across borders by country of origin | end-year
2010
2019
3,054,700
Afghanistan
1,683,600
Iraq
3,675,500
Venezuela
Afghanistan
770,200
Somalia
6,617,000
Syria
2,728,900
DRC
476,700
South Sudan
Myanmar
415,700
Myanmar
1,078,300
Colombia
395,600
Somalia
905,100
Sudan
387,300
DRC
807,400
Viet Nam
338,700
Sudan
734,900
Eritrea
222,500
Central African Rep.
610,200
China
184,600
Eritrea
505,100
Central African Rep.
164,900
Iraq
344,500
18,500
Viet Nam
316,400
6,700
China
212,900
Colombia
104,900
Syria
Venezuela
South Sudan*
2,234,800
* South Sudan gained independence from the Republic of the Sudan in 2011.
By country of origin
At the end of the decade, 8 out of 10 people
displaced across borders originated from just
10 countries (83%). This means international
displacement is heavily concentrated around these
10 countries. Five of them – Afghanistan, Somalia,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan
and Eritrea – remained in the top 10 list of source
countries for cross-border displacement throughout
the decade, highlighting the unresolved refugee
crises in those places.
Syria has been the main country of origin for
refugees since 2014. At the end of 2019, there
were 6.6 million Syrian refugees hosted by 126
countries worldwide. The vast majority (83%)
remained in neighbouring countries or in the region.
Turkey continued to host the largest number of
Syrian refugees (3.6 million), followed by Lebanon
(910,600), Jordan (654,700), Iraq (245,800) and
Egypt (129,200). Outside the immediate region,
Germany (572,800) and Sweden (113,400) continued
to host the largest Syrian refugee populations.
At the start of the decade, there were just 6,700
Venezuelan refugees. But in recent years,
following deteriorating political, socioeconomic
and human rights conditions in the country, the
20
number of Venezuelans displaced abroad has
surged. At the end of the decade, Venezuelans
made up the second largest group, with 93,300
recognized refugees and a further 3.6 million
Venezuelans displaced abroad. In addition, there
were 794,500 Venezuelan asylum-seekers at the
end of 2019.
Since the early 1980s, the number of Afghan
refugees has remained sizeable. At times, the
number exceeded six million. During the last
decade, it dropped by 11 per cent from some
3.1 million to 2.7 million, primarily due to an
increase in returns to Afghanistan from Pakistan
and the Islamic Republic of Iran and verification
exercises29 conducted in Pakistan. The Islamic
Republics of Iran and Pakistan continue to host
87 per cent of Afghan refugees. This represents
a decrease from 96 per cent at the start of the
decade, as a number of countries, especially in
Europe, now host Afghan refugees (Germany
hosts 140,000, for example).
29 Verifications are a time-bound registration activity conducted
in a specific area and/or for a specific population and consist
of verifying and updating individual registration records and
collecting additional information, as necessary. Verifications
typically lead to more accurate population figures.
UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2019