Chapter 2
Bangladesh. Mohammad, 31, and his
daughter Kismat, 3 are among almost
700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled
Myanmar in 2017, seeking safety in
neighbouring Bangladesh. Four
generations of their family are living
in the camps near Cox’s Bazaar. The
living conditions in the camps are
difficult, but the Rohingya feel safe.
© U N H C R / R og e r A r n old
Bangladesh continued to host a large refugee
population at the end of 2018, almost entirely
comprising refugees from Myanmar, many of whom
arrived during 2017. The number stood at 906,600 at
the end of the year, a decline from 932,200 the
previous year, mostly due to statistical adjustments
following family count exercises. Still, there were
16,300 new registrations during the year.
New refugees
The refugee population in Ethiopia – the ninth largest
refugee host country – increased during 2018,
reaching 903,200. Nearly half of the population came
from South Sudan, bringing the total number of South
Sudanese refugees in the country to 422,100. There
were 257,200 refugees from Somalia, while significant
numbers from Eritrea (174,000) and Sudan (44,000)
remained in Ethiopia at the end of 2018.
Syrians were the largest group of new refugees
registered on a group or prima facie basis, accounting
for more than half of new registrations with 526,500
new refugees. Most of these were in Turkey, where
397,600 were registered in 2018 (although many
would have arrived earlier), followed by 81,700 in
Sudan, 15,600 in Iraq, 13,300 in Jordan, 11,800 in
Greece and 5,300 in Egypt.
Jordan experienced a slight increase in its refugee
population, providing protection to 715,300 people by
the end of 2018, up from 691,000 in 2017 and making
it the tenth largest refugee-hosting country in the
world. The vast majority of these refugees were from
Syria (676,300), while 34,600 were from Iraq.
The conflict in South Sudan continued to displace
many, with 179,200 new refugees registered in
2018. Still, this was a lower rate of displacement
than was seen in the previous year when over
1 million new refugees were recorded. More than
half of these new South Sudanese refugee
movements (99,400) were to Sudan, but there
were also large numbers of South Sudanese in
Uganda (40,700), Ethiopia (25,400), Kenya (7,300)
and DRC (5,900).
Other countries hosting significant refugee
populations of more than 200,000 people at the end
of 2018 included DRC (529,100), Chad (451,200),
Kenya (421,200), Cameroon (380,300), France
(368,400), China (321,800), the United States of
America (313,200), South Sudan (291,800), Iraq
(283,000), Tanzania (278,300), Yemen (264,400),
Sweden (248,200) and Egypt (246,700).
20
During 2018, 1.1 million people were reported as new
refugees, down from the 2.7 million reported in 2017.
This figure comprised 599,300 refugees who were
recognized on a group or prima facie basis, as well as
the 461,200 who were granted some form of
temporary protection.
Refugees from DRC constituted the third largest
group of new refugees with 123,400 people forcibly
displaced across its borders in 2018. Nearly all of
these new refugees fled to Uganda (119,900), while
unhcr > Global trends 2018