Chapter 2 Table 1 | Refugee population by UNHCR regions | 2017 Refugees (including persons in a refugee-like situation) UNHCR regions Start-2017 End-2017 Change Absolute - Central Africa and Great Lakes 1,381,900 1,475,700 93,800 - East and Horn of Africa % of total, end-2017 % 6.8 7 3,290,400 4,307,800 1,017,400 30.9 22 - Southern Africa 162,100 1 97,700 35,600 22.0 1 - West Africa 300,600 286,900 -13,700 -4.6 1 Total Africa* 5,135,100 6,268,200 1,133,100 22.1 31 Americas 682,700 644,200 -38,500 -5.6 3 Asia and Pacific 3,477,800 4,209,700 731,900 21.0 21 Europe 5,200,200 6,114, 300 914,100 17.6 31 thereof: Turkey 2,869,400 3,480,300 610,900 21.3 17 Middle East and North Africa 2,679,500 2,704,900 25,400 0.9 14 17,175,300 19,941,300 2,766,000 16.1 100 Total * Excluding North Africa. By Origin The Syrian people continued to bear the brunt of the civil war, and Syria remained the main country of origin of refugees at the end of 2017. More than 6.3 million people have been forced to flee the country, accounting for almost one-third of the world’s total refugee population [Figure 3]. There was a 14 per cent increase in the total number of Syrian refugees in 2017. Currently, Syrian refugees have found asylum in 125 countries throughout the world, with the majority being hosted by Turkey (3,424,200). At the end of 2017, large populations of refugees from Syria were also residing in Lebanon (992,100), Jordan (653,000), Germany (496,700), Iraq (247,100), Egypt (126,700), Sweden (103,600), Austria (43,900), and the Netherlands (30,900). The second-largest population of refugees in 2017 was from Afghanistan, whose refugee population grew by 5 per cent to 2.6 million people by end-2017, due mainly to births and a large number of positive decisions granting protection to asylum-seekers in Germany. Afghan refugees were mostly living in Pakistan (1,392,600), where a small increase in the population was due to births outnumbering those who returned to Afghanistan or were resettled. Altogether, refugees from Afghanistan were reported in 93 countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran (951,100), Germany (104,400), and Austria (26,900). The largest increase during 2017 was of refugees from South Sudan, the number of which rose from 14 1.4 million at the beginning of the year to 2.4 million at the end. The majority of South Sudanese refugees resided in Uganda (1,037,400), Sudan (772,700), Ethiopia (421,400), Kenya (111,500), and the DRC (89,000). South Sudan remained the third major country of origin of refugees in 2017. Refugees originating from Myanmar represented the fourth-largest population group by country of origin, more than doubling in number from less than half a million to 1.2 million by the end of 2017. The majority of refugees from Myanmar at the end of the year were hosted by Bangladesh (932,200). Other countries with sizable populations of Myanmar refugees were Thailand (100,000), Malaysia (98,000), and India (18,100). A more detailed description of the situation of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar can be seen on pages 24-25. Although Somalia was the fifth-largest source country of refugees in the world in 2017, the number of Somali refugees declined slightly over the year (3 per cent) to 986,400 people. Kenya (281,700), Yemen (255,900), and Ethiopia (253,800) were the main host countries of Somali refugees, while smaller groups resided in South Africa (27,000), Uganda (25,000), and Sweden (22,000). The refugee population from Sudan increased slightly from 650,400 at the beginning of the year to 694,600 at the end, making Sudan the sixth-largest country of origin of the world’s refugees. The majority of refugees from Sudan were hosted in unhcr > Global trends 2017