spotlight 2 Internal displacement in Myanmar Forced displacement from Myanmar Prior to the military takeover in February 2021, 370,300 people were forcibly displaced within Myanmar, primarily within Rakhine State. By mid2023, the number of IDPs in the country had grown nearly five-fold to 1.8 million, with displacement spreading across the entire country. Since violence escalated in October 2023 and throughout 2024, the conflict has continued to force more people from their homes.77 As a result, the number of IDPs has doubled to reach 3.6 million by March 2025, up from 3.5 million at the end of 2024. As of March 2025, violence and conflict have forced 1.5 million refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar to seek international protection, with most hosted by neighbouring countries. 82 Bangladesh hosts the vast majority, with 1.1 million. Most of them are Rohingya who fled successive waves of violence in Rakhine State and the impact of Myanmar’s discriminatory citizenship laws, which have rendered nearly all of them stateless, therefore restricting their access to rights. A military crackdown in August 2017 forced more than 655,500 Rohingya to cross into Bangladesh, joining refugees who were displaced to Bangladesh since the 1990s. This brought the total to over 932,200 by the end of that year. Conflict reignited in Rakhine State in late 2023 and continued to push more people across the border. Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh remains the world’s largest refugee settlement. 83 By the beginning of May 2025, 118,300 new arrivals had been identified since the beginning of February 2021. 84 Northwestern Myanmar remains one of the regions hardest hit by the conflict. As of December 2024, Sagaing hosted 1.3 million IDPs, the largest number in the north-west. Displacement has also dramatically increased in Rakhine State in 2024, with 547,300 people remaining displaced at the end of the year. Meanwhile, southeastern Myanmar has also seen mounting instability, with the number of IDPs remaining displaced at end-2024 surpassing 1 million.78 Extreme weather and disasters have compounded the crisis, exacerbating the humanitarian and protection situation of those already internally displaced by the conflict. In May 2023, over 80 per cent of the extensive damage caused by Cyclone Mocha was concentrated in Rakhine and Sagaing, devastating IDP camps and claiming many lives.79 In September 2024, heavy flooding and landslides triggered by Typhoon Yagi displaced around 320,000 people. 80 The earthquake in March 2025 ravaged areas already hosting 1.5 million IDPs and deepened humanitarian needs across the country. 81 Elsewhere in the region, 174,300 refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar are hosted in Malaysia, 83,400 in India, 81,000 in Thailand and 3,200 in Indonesia. Together, this represents a near threefold increase since the end of 2015, reflecting the growing number of people forced to seek international protection due to escalating violence and instability. In Thailand, 81,000 refugees – many of whom have lived in Thailand since the mid-1980s – reside in nine camps along the border with Myanmar. 85 While the camp-based refugee population in Thailand has decreased by 15 per cent since 2021, the number of new arrivals fleeing ongoing violence in Myanmar continues to grow. People from Myanmar continue to reside across the region under different legal stay arrangements, with many who fled unable to return due to international protection concerns. 77 See Myanmar Emergency Update, December 2024, UNHCR. 78 Ibid. 79 See Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Mocha, May 2023, Myanmar: Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) Report, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and World Bank. 80 See UNHCR Flash Update on Flooding in Myanmar, October 2024, UNHCR, Myanmar Flood 2024 - DREF Operational Update, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Myanmar Floods Typhoon Yagi - Operation Update #2, IFRC. 81 See Myanmar Earthquake Emergency: UNHCR response to urgent needs of displaced people and host communities, UNHCR. 82 UNHCR issued a guidance note urging States to grant civilians fleeing Myanmar access to their territories, protect their right to seek asylum and uphold the principle of non-refoulement. See Guidance Note on the International Protection Needs of People Fleeing Myanmar, UNHCR. 83 See Where are the largest places hosting refugees? and Settlement Typologies in Emergencies. The proportion in settlements includes formal settlements, informal settlements, collective centres and transit centres. 84 New arrivals biometrically identified by Government of Bangladesh and UNHCR. See Myanmar situation, UNHCR. 85 The camps in Thailand hosting refugees from Myanmar are Ban Don Yang, Ban Mae Surin, Ban Mai Nai Soi, Mae La, Mae La Ooon, Mae Ra Ma Luang, Nu Po, Tham Hin and Umpiem. UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2024 21