U.N. Refugee Agency’s New Report Outlines Global Refugee and Resettlement Trends

Each year the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) releases a comprehensive report tracking forced displacement across the globe. The statistics are invaluable in understanding the magnitude of the challenges facing refugees, forcibly displaced communities, stateless people and migrants as they flee wars, persecution or human rights abuses.

It also highlights the dimensions of the challenges facing agencies such as UNHCR that seek to help individuals and families in need. As described in the new report, here are the key facts, figures and trends for 2021:

‣  The number of refugees worldwide increased from 20.7 in 2020 to 21.3 million at the end of 2021, more than double the 10.5 million a decade ago.

‣  The number of Venezuelans displaced abroad also rose, from 3.9 million to 4.4 million, during the same period.

‣  89.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2021.

‣  That number represents a doubling of the 42.7 million who remained forcibly displaced at the end of 2012 and is an 8% increase of almost 7 million people in just one year.

‣  Approximately 1% of the world’s population – or 1 in 88 people – were forcibly displaced at the end of 2021. This compares with 1 in 167 at the end of 2012.

‣  83% of displaced individuals were hosted in low- and middle-income countries.

‣  3.8 million refugees were hosted in Turkey, representing the largest refugee population in the world. In second place was Colombia, with more than 1.8 million.

‣  69% of all refugees came from five countries: Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar.

‣  6.1 million refugees and migrants were from Venezuela.

‣  5.7 million previously displaced people returned to their homes in 2021. Of this number 5.3 million had been internally displaced.

‣  57,500 refugees were resettled in 2021, up from 34,400 in 2020.

‣  Children account for 41% of all forcibly displaced people, but only 30% of the world’s population.

‣  23 countries, hosting a combined population of 850 million people, faced high- or medium-intensity conflicts in 2021. The number of countries at war or experiencing other types of violent conflicts has doubled in the past 10 years.

‣  In 2021 approximately 1.7 million people crossed international borders seeking protection. Meanwhile, 14.4 million new displacements within countries were reported. This represents a dramatic increase from the combined 11.2 million in 2020.

‣  This year more than 7 million Ukrainians have been displaced within their country. It is one of the largest forced displacement crises since World War II, and it has also happened more quickly than any other post-war displacement.

‣  Over 4.3 million people worldwide were estimated to be stateless or of undetermined nationality at the end of 2021.

Reacting to his agency’s report, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi remarked: “Every year of the last decade, the numbers have climbed. Either the international community comes together to take action to address this human tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions, or this terrible trend will continue.” 
Deborah Morrish is a proud wife and mother, educator, volunteer, chairperson and internationally renowned adjudicator and humanitarian consultant who believes in the power of each individual to positively impact the world in which we live. Building off of her education and experience, she has dedicated most of her life advocating for those caught in the human struggle, as refugees, trying to obtain safety for themselves and their families. Deborah has been a career adjudicator for over 35 years, first as a Vice Chair of the Ontario Social Assistance Review Board, then as the Assistant Deputy Chair of the Immigration and refugee board, and recently as a consultant to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in South Africa. She dedicated herself to lifelong learning early on and as a result has earned a number of degrees and certifications in education and language in Canada and France, including her HBA, BEd, BSc, MA, a Management for Executives certificate from Canada School of Public Service; a Diploma in Studies in French in La Sorbonne, Paris; and Alternative Dispute Resolution Certification Parts 1 and 2 in Toronto, Ontario.

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