CHAPTER 2 Figure 5 | Major source countries of refugees Syrian Arab Rep. Afghanistan South Sudan Somalia Sudan DR of the Congo Central African Rep. Myanmar Eritrea Burundi 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Refugee population (millions) end-2016 end-2015 refugee populations included Germany (375,100), Sweden (96,900), Austria (31,000), and the Netherlands (28,400). Refugees from Afghanistan comprised the secondlargest group by country of origin, although their numbers decreased. At the end of 2016, there were 2.5 million Afghan refugees, compared with 2.7 million a year earlier. While this decline was mainly due to returns from Pakistan, that country nonetheless continued to host the largest Afghan refugee population (1.4 million). The Islamic Republic of Iran reported 951,100 Afghan refugees.24 In Germany, the number of Afghan refugees grew to 46,300 by the end of 2016, followed by Austria (20,200), Sweden (16,600), Italy (16,000), and Greece (11,400). The crisis in South Sudan led to a substantial increase in people fleeing the country, especially in the second half of 2016. During the year, the number of refugees from South Sudan nearly doubled, increasing from 778,700 at end-2015 to over 1.4 million people at end-2016. The situation in South Sudan is described in more detail on pages 30-33. The number of Somali refugees worldwide decreased slightly, mainly due to verification exercises in and returns from Kenya. At the end of 2015, there were 1.1 million Somali refugees, a number that decreased to 1.0 million by the end of 2016. Kenya continued to host the largest Somali refugee population, with 324,400. This was followed UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2016 by Yemen, where the population increased slightly to 255,100 due to both natural growth and new recognitions, despite the ongoing conflict there. Ethiopia hosted 242,000 Somali refugees at the end of 2016, followed by Uganda (30,700), South Africa (28,700), Sweden (22,500), the Netherlands (16,500), and Italy (14,300). The number of refugees originating from Sudan reached 650,600 by the end of 2016, up from 627,100 the previous year. Chad continued to host the largest Sudanese refugee population with 312,500, while 241,500 Sudanese refugees were living in South Sudan. Other countries hosting a significant Sudanese refugee population at end-2016 included Ethiopia (39,900), Egypt (13,800), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) (7,300), and France (7,000). 24 The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran registers all refugees in the country. With the exception of refugees in settlements, UNHCR has most recently received only the aggregate number of refugees from the Government in May 2015. 17