annex figure 1
Historical review of the 51 major source countries of refugees
This matrix depicts the annual ranking of countries of origin of refugees since 1980. Countries are listed if they featured
among the top-20 at least once. Individual rankings are the result of population movements, demographic and legal
changes, data revisions and re-classification of individual population groups. Palestinian refugees under UNHCR’s
mandate are excluded as a result of incomplete data.
Rank 1
1980
Rank 2-5
1985
1990
Rank 6-10
1995
Rank 11-20
2000
2005
2010
#of
times
in top
20
2015
Afghanistan
Angola
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bhutan
Bosnia and H.
Burundi
Cambodia
Central African Rep.
Chad
China
Colombia
Côte d’Ivoire
Croatia
Dem. Rep. of Congo
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
a
Ethiopia
Guatemala
Islamic Rep. of Iran
Iraq
Lao People’s Dem. Rep.
Liberia
Mali
Mauritania
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Pakistan
Philippines
Russian Federation
Rwanda
b
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Sri Lanka
c
Sudan
Syrian Arab Rep.
Timor-Leste
Togo
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
d
Unknown origin
Viet Nam
Western Sahara
Yemen
a
b
c
d
56
Ethiopia: includes Eritrea until its independence in the absence of seperate statistics available for both countries.
Serbia and Kosovo: S/RES/1244 (1999). Includes Montenegro until its independence in the absence of seperate statistics available for
both countries.
Sudan: includes South Sudan until its independence in the absence of seperate statistics available for both countries.
Unknown origin: Refers to refugees whose country of origin is unknown. Data availability has improved significantly over the years.
UNHCR Global Trends 2015