Countries by Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of origin
The Syrian Arab Republic ranks 1st with 5,952,174 refugees under UNHCR mandate originating from its territory, followed closely by Afghanistan at rank 2 with 5,766,586. At the opposite end, six countries including Iceland, Brunei Darussalam, and Tuvalu report zero. The gap between the top and bottom of this ranking reflects the extreme concentration of forced displacement in a small number of origin countries.
Ranking 2024
Analysis
This metric counts refugees under the mandate of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) by country or territory of origin. According to the source definition, these include individuals recognized under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, the refugee definition contained in the 1984 Cartagena Declaration, and other relevant instruments. Values are reported as absolute counts with higher values indicating more refugees originating from that country. The dataset covers 200 countries for the 2024 reference year, with 196 of 200 countries (98.0%) reporting data from the latest year and 100% of datapoints classified as official quality. The ranking contains 32 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, reflecting the highly skewed nature of the distribution.
The top of the ranking is dominated by countries affected by prolonged conflict. Syria (rank 1, 5,952,174) and Afghanistan (rank 2, 5,766,586) together account for the two largest refugee-origin populations. Ukraine ranks 3rd with 5,120,036. South Sudan (rank 4, 2,290,622) and Sudan (rank 5, 2,094,373) represent the next tier. Myanmar ranks 6th at 1,322,503, the Democratic Republic of Congo 7th at 1,060,086, and Somalia 8th at 894,120. The top 10 is completed by the Central African Republic (rank 9, 693,488) and Eritrea (rank 10, 551,296). These ten countries collectively account for the vast majority of UNHCR-mandate refugee populations globally.
The middle of the ranking includes several notable placements. Venezuela ranks 12th at 370,169, placing it among conflict-affected African and Middle Eastern states. China ranks 19th at 153,564 and Azerbaijan ranks 20th at 153,154, both with higher values than several countries more commonly associated with displacement. The United States ranks 82nd at 4,004, and the United Kingdom ranks 118th at 417. Major Western European economies appear in the lower half: Germany ranks 120th at 348, France 142nd at 139, and the Netherlands 143rd at 136. Six countries report exactly zero refugees of origin: British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Iceland, Marshall Islands, Puerto Rico, and Tuvalu.
Several limitations apply to this metric. The count reflects only refugees under UNHCR mandate and excludes Palestinian refugees under UNRWA mandate, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers whose claims are pending, and stateless persons not otherwise counted. Reporting depends on UNHCR registration systems, which may not capture all displaced individuals, particularly in areas with limited humanitarian access. Countries with very small values (14 countries report exactly 5 refugees) likely reflect minimum reporting thresholds rather than precise counts. The average year-over-year change across the dataset is 34.4%, indicating substantial volatility that can affect year-to-year comparisons. The range spans from 0 to 5,952,174, a spread of over 999%, which means the ranking compresses very different magnitudes in its lower tiers.
Methodology
Metric: Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of origin. Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SM.POP.RHCR.EO, data year 2024. Values are absolute counts of refugees originating from each country or territory. Per the source definition, coverage includes individuals recognized under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, the refugee definition contained in the 1984 Cartagena Declaration, and other relevant instruments. The dataset covers 200 countries, with 196 of 200 (98.0%) reporting data in the latest year and 100% of datapoints classified as official quality. Recency check: 200 of 200 countries have data within the last 7 years. The ranking contains 32 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and average year-over-year volatility is 34.4%. The value range is 0 to 5,952,174. Palestinian refugees under UNRWA mandate are excluded from this count.