DEMOGRAPHICS OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN FORCIBLY DISPLACED END-2024
Children account for 29 per cent of the world’s population, but 40 per cent of all forcibly displaced people.10
MALE
3%
3%
60+
7%
18-59
FEMALE
27%
8%
8%
27%
28%
27%
28%
19%
20%
20%
15%
26%
26%
28%
20%
0-17
6%
Forcibly displaced
World population
4%4%
15%
14%
14%
DISCLAIMER: figures do not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding.
SOLUTIONS
188,800
9.8
MILLION
REFUGEES
DISPLACED PEOPLE
RETURNED
RESETTLED
9.8 million displaced people
returned to their areas or countries
of origin in 2024, including 8.2
million internally displaced people
and 1.6 million refugees.
188,800 refugees were resettled in
2024, according to government
statistics. UNHCR submitted
203,800 refugees to States for
resettlement.
47,200
STATELESS PEOPLE
RECEIVED
CITIZENSHIP
47,200 stateless people had their
nationality confirmed or acquired
citizenship during the year.
1
The total number of people forcibly displaced is calculated using statistics by UNHCR, UNRWA and IDMC. See UNHCR population groups explained for
more information. UNRWA estimates that 70 per cent of the 2 million IDPs in the Gaza Strip at end-2024 were Palestine refugees under its mandate. These
internally displaced refugees under UNRWA’s mandate are only counted once in the global forcibly displaced total.
2 See the Methodology page of UNHCR’s Refugee Data Finder for a definition of each population group.
3 Source: UNRWA.
4 All references in this infographic to refugees under UNHCR’s mandate includes people in a refugee-like situation.
5 Source: Global Report on Internal Displacement 2025, IDMC. At the end of 2024, 83.4 million people remained displaced within their countries, including 73.5
million due to conflict and violence and 9.8 million due to disasters.
6 See Key facts for countries hosting the world’s refugees, UNHCR.
7 Limited to countries hosting at least 10,000 people. Excludes Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate.
8 Lebanon continues to be the highest, per capita, host country for refugees globally, with a government estimate of 1.5 million Syrians (some 755,400
registered by UNHCR) and 10,000 asylum-seekers and refugees of other nationalities. When the 486,300 Palestine refugees in Lebanon and 2.4 million
Palestine refugees in Jordan registered with UNRWA are included, the proportions in Jordan and Lebanon increase to one in four and one in five.
9 All statistics reported by the United States of America apart from resettlement arrivals are as of mid-2024. Hence, the data of new individual asylum
applications only include the period between January and June 2024, and the number of pending applications is as of 30 June 2024. The full year statistics
for each of these are likely to be higher.
10 Sources: Estimation of IDP demographics (IDMC); Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate (UNRWA); Refugees, people in a refugee-like situation,
asylum-seekers and other people in need of international protection are based on the available data (UNHCR) and World Population estimates (UN
Department of Economic and Social Affairs).
UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2024
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