According to the new report of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are 11.78 crore people in the world who have had to leave their homes due to war, violence, persecution or other crises. That means today every 70th person in the world is forcibly displaced. According to the report, the burden of providing shelter to refugees and displaced persons and taking responsibility for them lies mainly on the countries of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
America and many European countries are lagging behind when it comes to human rights. For this reason, questions have been raised on the policies of western countries regarding the refugee crisis. However, Europe is still one of the regions hosting the largest number of displaced people in the world. 1.32 crore refugees are living here. On the other hand, there has been a huge decline in the number of people taking refuge in America. A total of 81 thousand people took refuge in Canada, Australia, America and France in the year 2025. In the year 2024, this figure was a record 1.88 lakh people. In the year 2025, 38,800 displaced people took refuge in Canada, 18,800 in Australia, 11,500 in America and 3100 in France.
For the first time in the last 10 years, there has been a decline in the number of forcibly displaced people in the world. This number will decrease by about 4% in the year 2025. The biggest reason for this was that a large number of refugees and people displaced in their own country returned to their homes. But this relief did not last long.
10 lakh in Israel, 32 lakh in Iran left their homes
According to the report, a new displacement crisis arose after the US-Israel and Iran conflict that started in March 2026. Due to Israeli attacks, more than 1 million people were forced to leave their homes. At the same time, 32 lakh people were displaced inside Iran. Due to this, the crisis of refugees and displacement increased rapidly in Lebanon also.
According to UNHCR data, out of the total 11 crore 73 lakh displaced people, 6 crore 86 lakh people are living inside their own country but away from their homes. About 2 crore 85 lakh people are refugees, who are living in other countries. There are about 90 lakh people who have sought asylum in other countries, but the decision on their cases has not been taken yet. Apart from this, 72 lakh people need international protection. At the same time, about 60 lakh Palestinian refugees come under the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
What is the history of the refugee crisis?
According to international law, refugees are those people who have to leave their country due to threat to their life, freedom or security. The history of the refugee crisis is also told in the UNHCR report. After the Second World War, in 1951, the United Nations created the Refugee Convention to protect the rights of refugees. At that time there were about 21 lakh refugees in the world. Later in 1967, the scope of this system was extended to the entire world.
By 1980, the number of refugees crossed 1 crore for the first time. Due to the wars in Afghanistan and Ethiopia, this number increased to 20 million by 1990. After this, there was not much change in the numbers for about 20 years. Then the American attack on Afghanistan in 2001, the Iraq War in 2003 and later the civil wars in South Sudan and Syria rapidly increased the number of refugees. By the end of 2021, the number of refugees in the world exceeded 3 crores.
The Ukraine war, which began in 2022, has spawned one of the world’s fastest-growing refugee crises. In less than a year, 57 lakh people were forced to leave Ukraine. In 2023, 1.5 million new refugees were created in Sudan due to conflict between the army and Rapid Support Forces. This year, due to Israeli attacks in Gaza, the entire population of about 23 lakh people was affected. Most of the people there had to leave their homes several times.
The number of people returning home increased
There is also some good news in the report. The number of displaced people returning to their homes in 2025 has increased by 50% compared to 2024. A total of more than 1 crore 47 lakh people returned to their homes. This is considered to be the biggest return so far in the records of UNHCR.
However, UNHCR has warned that many people are returning to areas where violence, instability and security risks still exist. Therefore merely returning home is not enough. It is also important that the returning people get security, employment, education and basic facilities, so that they can live a normal and respectable life again.
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