CHAPTER 2 Figure 6 | Number of refugees per 1,000 inhabitants | end-2016* Lebanon Jordan Turkey Chad Sweden Uganda South Sudan Djibouti Malta Mauritania 0 40 80 120 160 200 Refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, end-2016 * Only countries with national populations over 100,000 were considered. With no end in sight to the conflict in Syria, some 410,800 refugees from that country were newly registered. Most Syrian refugees sought protection in the immediate region, with 328,900 granted temporary protection in Turkey. An additional 37,900 were registered in Jordan, followed by Egypt (14,600), Iraq (13,600), and Lebanon (13,200). CO NTR I BUTI O N S O F H OST COU NTR I E S Already limited resources were further strained by the rapid increase in refugees from some of the world’s poorest countries fleeing to some of the world’s least developed countries. While the magnitude of the refugee population is an important factor, the size of a host country’s population, economy and development level also are central when considering the burden of hosting refugees. The size of a national population is important for estimating the impact of large numbers of refugees on a country in socio-demographic terms (Figure 6). 31 Using this measure, the countries receiving refugees fleeing Syria experienced the highest numbers, reflecting the magnitude of the Syrian crisis. Lebanon continued to host a particularly large refugee population relative to its national size, with 169 refugees for every 1,000 Lebanese. 32 20 Jordan and Turkey also hosted large refugee populations relative to national population size. In 2016, low- and middle-income countries in developing regions were disproportionately affected by hosting refugees, with some 84 per cent of all refugees living in these regions. 33 The least developed countries, such as Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda, hosted 4.9 million refugees, 28 per cent of the global total. As low-income countries, these already face severe structural barriers to economic growth and development, and usually have the least resources to respond to the needs of people seeking refuge. 34 31 Source for national populations: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015). World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision (medium fertility variant projection for 2016). See: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/. 32 These figures do not include Palestinian refugees under UNRWA’s mandate who numbered 463,700 in Lebanon and 2.2 million in Jordan. 33 See https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ for a list of countries included under each region. 34 See https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ for a list of least developed countries. UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2016