CHAPTER 2 Figure 7 | Number of refugees per one million US dollars GDP | end-2016 South Sudan Chad Uganda Niger Lebanon Rwanda Burundi Jordan Mauritania Cameroon 0 20 40 60 80 100 Refugees per million dollars GDP (current prices), end-2016 The size of a country’s economy can be estimated, with limitations, by its gross domestic product (GDP). 35 Comparing the overall size of a host country’s economy to the size of the refugee population indicates the economic resources that may be available to meet the needs of the refugee population (Figure 7). By this measure, the burden was greatest among the world’s poorest countries which hosted significant refugee populations compared to the size of their economies. For example, Chad had the fourth-largest refugee population relative to its national population, but it was 186th out of 188 countries in terms of the HDI. Similarly, South Sudan was ranked 181st in terms of its HDI but seventh with respect to the refugee population. Although Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey hosted large refugee populations, they also had much higher levels of human development by this measure. Examples here include Chad, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. Eight of the 10 countries hosting the most refugees relative to the size of their national economies were in Africa. While Lebanon and Jordan are middle-income countries, the high number of refugees they hosted relative to the overall size of the economy meant that their economic burdens were notable nonetheless. The development level of a country can be assessed in many ways. For the purposes of this report, the 2015 Human Development Index (HDI) produced by the United Nations Development Programme was used to reflect a country’s level of development. 36 Many countries with the lowest level of human development – those already struggling to meet the sustainable development needs of their national populations – also faced the challenges of hosting a large refugee population. UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2016 35 Source for economy size: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database, April 2017; see: https://www.imf. org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2017/01/weodata/index.aspx, Gross Domestic Product (current prices). In previous publications, the economic measure was number of refugees per 1 USD GPD (PPP) per capita. In order to better reflect economic impact, the measure has been changed. If desired, the previous measure can be calculated using the link to the data above. 36 See: http://hdr.undp.org/en/data. 21