Chapter 1 Figure 2 | Number of people newly displaced per day | 2003-2017 50,000 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 Other developing situations in 2017 included the increase in refugees and asylum-seekers from the North of Central America (NCA). More people undertook the perilous journey northwards to seek asylum in Mexico and the United States of America, even as Venezuelans continued to flow out to neighbouring countries, those in the region, and farther away. The impact of the movement of refugees to Europe in 2015 and 2016 was seen in the growing refugee population as the backlog of asylum applications was gradually processed during 2017. In particular, the refugee population in Germany increased by 45 per cent, with substantive decisions made on over half a million cases. Movements of people across the Mediterranean decreased compared with 2016. Numbers significantly declined for the Eastern Mediterranean crossing beginning in April 2016 and for the Central Mediterranean since July 2017. Nonetheless, many people continued to risk their lives traversing this sea, with the majority arriving in Italy, where some 126,500 new asylum-seekers submitted applications in 2017. unhcr > Global trends 2017 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘15 ‘16 ‘17 Despite these movements, the vast majority of displaced people remained close to home, with only a small proportion venturing further afield to seek protection in more-remote countries. Over four out of every five refugees were located in a neighbouring country to the one from which they fled. Without the protection of family or kin, unaccompanied and separated children are particularly at risk of exploitation and abuse. During the year, 45,500 such children were reported as having applied for asylum, although this number is considered to be an underestimate.10 For the first time, UNHCR has reported unaccompanied and separated children among the registered refugee and asylum-seeker population. While this number is reported from only a limited number of operations where UNHCR conducts registration and maintains its own database, it is hoped that this will lead to an improvement in the reporting on children as part of the joint call to action by UNHCR and other key partners for improved data on displaced children.11 10 The estimate does not include data from all countries, including three important asylum countries: the Russian Federation, South Africa, and the United States of America. It does not reflect total numbers of both asylum-seeking and refugee unaccompanied and separated children. 11 For more information, see https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/ uploads/2018/02/Migration_advocacy_Feb20.pdf. 7