Chapter 2
+ EXPLORE
THE DATA
+ By origin
and asylum
CHAPTER 2
Refugees
42.7
69%
MILLION
refugees at the end of 2024 (–1 per cent) including:
• 4 million people in a refugee-like situation (–31 per cent).
• 5.9 million other people in need of international protection (+2 per cent).
• 5.9 million Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate.
of refugees under
UNHCR’s mandate
originate from just
five countries.
Overview
Compared to a decade ago, the global number of
refugees under UNHCR’s mandate has more than
doubled, reaching 36.8 million by the end of 2024.
Yet this total reflects an overall decline by 559,300 or
one per cent from the end of the previous year, the
first such year-on-year decline since 2011. The net
decrease was driven primarily by fewer people in a
refugee-like situation from Afghanistan and Ukraine
being reported126 and the number of Syrian refugees
also fell. The global total included 4 million people in
a refugee-like situation and 5.9 million other people in
need of international protection. All further references
to refugees in this chapter include all three of these
population groups, unless otherwise stated.127
During 2024, more than 2.6 million people were
granted international protection including 775,900
who had made an individual asylum claim, 835,600
who were recognized on a group basis and a
further 954,600 people who received temporary
protection.128 The total number of people granted
international protection in 2024 represents a slight
decrease from the 2.8 million people who received
this in the previous year. In 2024, a further 392,000
people in a refugee-like situation were estimated to
have been displaced during the year.129
126 See footnote 18.
127 This does not include Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate.
128 See How is refugee status granted?, UNHCR.
129 See UNHCR’s forced displacement flow dataset. Most people in a refugee-like situation are Afghans (2.8 million, –23 per cent compared to the
previous year) or Ukrainian (662,400, –65 per cent). In 2024, 198,200 Sudanese were also reported in a refugee-like situation, primarily in Libya.
UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2024
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