CHAPTER 2
…the protection of refugees is not only the
responsibility of neighbouring States of a
crisis; it is a collective responsibility of the
international community.
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General
CHAPTER 2
REFUGEES
GLOBAL REFUGEE POPULATION
IS HIGHEST ON RECORD
The global refugee population stood at 22.5 million
at the end of 2016, including 5.3 million Palestinian
refugees under UNRWA’s mandate, and is now at
the highest level ever recorded. There were 17.2
million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate,15 the
focus of this report and, unless otherwise stated, all
reference to refugees in this report refers to these
refugees.
Refugees may be recognized on a group or prima
facie basis, or they may be recognized as refugees
after having undergone a process of individual status
determination. In 2016, there were about 2.3 million
newly recognized refugees. Of them, over half were
recognized on a group or prima facie basis (1.4
million),16 and the rest were recognized following
individual refugee status determination (876,900).17
Overall, the refugee population under UNHCR’s
mandate increased by some 65 per cent over the
past five years. The change in the refugee
population is due mainly to refugees returning to
their countries of origin and new or continuing
conflicts fuelling new refugee outflows. While still
growing, the rate of growth is the slowest since
2012. Over the course of 2016, the refugee
population increased by 1.1 million or 7 per cent,
while in 2015 this figure increased by about 1.7
million (12 per cent) and in 2014 by some 2.2 million
(23 per cent).
The conflict in Syria dominated figures for newly
recognized refugees in 2016 with 824,400 new
recognitions, making this the most common country
of origin.
UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2016
15 This figure includes some 654,000 persons in refugee-like
situations, with about 243,000 in Bangladesh, 164,200 in the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 52,200 in Thailand, and 42,300
in Ecuador.
16 Also referred to as new refugee arrivals.
17 For statistical purposes, this report does not distinguish between
asylum-seekers recognized as refugees or those accorded a
complementary form of protection such as subsidiary status, and
the term recognition is used here to also refer to the granting of
these complementary forms of protection.
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