Chapter 2 Figure 4 | Major host countries of refugees Turkey Pakistan Uganda Lebanon Islamic Rep. of Iran Germany Bangladesh Sudan Ethiopia Jordan 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 Refugee population (millions) challenging for them to mobilize sufficient resources to respond to large refugee influxes. At the end of 2017, Turkey continued to be the country hosting the world’s largest number of refugees, with a 21 per cent increase in its refugee population, from 2.9 million at the beginning of the year to 3.5 million at the end [Figure 4]. The total refugee population hosted in Turkey comprised Syrians (3,424,200), along with Iraqis (37,300), Iranians (8,300), and Afghans (5,600). Pakistan hosted the second-largest refugee population, with 1.4 million refugees. Even though this number rose slightly (3 per cent) over the course of 2017, the increase was due mainly to new births, partially offset by the repatriation of 59,000 Afghan refugees. Uganda also hosted a large population of refugees in 2017, where arrivals of refugees from South Sudan and the DRC pushed the number to 1.4 million, a 44 per cent increase over 2016.19 In addition to 1,037,400 refugees from South Sudan, Uganda also hosted sizable refugee populations from the DRC (226,200), Burundi (38,200), Somalia (25,000), and Rwanda (14,300). 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 end-2017 4.0 end-2016 country, was practically unchanged compared with 2016, with a figure slightly below 1 million (998,900). In addition to Syrians (992,100), Lebanon also provided protection to 5,700 refugees from Iraq. The number of refugees in the Islamic Republic of Iran was also stable compared with the end of 2016 at 979,400, 20 including 951,100 Afghans and 28,300 Iraqis. As such, the Islamic Republic of Iran ranked fifth among refugee-hosting countries worldwide at end-2017. The sixth-largest refugee-hosting country was Germany, where the refugee population increased by 45 per cent to 970,400, mainly due to positive decisions on asylum claims of individuals already present in the country but also including resettlement arrivals. At the end of the year, the majority of refugees hosted by Germany came from Syria (496,700), followed by Iraq (130,600), Afghanistan (104,400), Eritrea (49,300), and the Islamic Republic of Iran (38,300). By far the most dramatic increase in relative terms in the past year was in the refugee population of 19 Based on estimates from the Government of Uganda. The number of refugees registered with UNHCR in Lebanon, the fourth-largest refugee-hosting unhcr > Global trends 2017 20 The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran registers all refugees in its country and has most recently provided figures to UNHCR in May 2015. 17