This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Refugee crisis" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Arefugee crisis can refer to difficulties and/or dangerous situations in the reception of large groups ofrefugees. These could beforcibly displaced persons,internally displaced persons,asylum seekers or any other huge groups of migrants.

According to theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), due to conflicts, human rights violations, and other disturbing events, 108.4 million individuals experienced forced displacement globally by the end of 2022. 35.3 million of 108.4 were refugees.^[2] UNHCR oversees 29.4 million refugees, whereas 5.9 million fall under the mandate of UNRWA as Palestine refugees.^[2] Furthermore, internal displacement affects 62.5 million individuals, 5.4 million are asylum-seekers, and an additional 5.2 million are other people in need of international protection.^[2] More vital information from UNHCR highlights that 76% of refugees and those in need of international protection worldwide are hosted in low to middle-income countries, with a significant portion being countries neighboring their nations of origin.^[2] Türkiye hosted the largest refugee population globally, accommodating nearly 3.6 million refugees.^[2] The Islamic Republic of Iran followed closely with 3.4 million, trailed by Colombia with 2.5 million, Germany with 2.1 million, and Pakistan with 1.7 million.^[2] In relation to their national populations, Aruba (1 in 6) and Lebanon (1 in 7) hosted the highest number of refugees and individuals requiring international protection, followed by Curaçao (1 in 14), Jordan (1 in 16), and Montenegro (1 in 19).^[2] In 2022, the majority of refugees and individuals in need of international protection, accounting for 52%, originated from the top three countries that migrated to host nations.^[2] The first country was the Syrian Arab Republic with 6.5 million refugees, followed by Ukraine with 5.7 million, and Afghanistan, ranking third with 5.7 million refugees.^[2] In 2022, the government reported approximately 113,300 refugees who resettled, while UNHCR documented 116,500 refugees relocated to states for resettlement.^[2]

According to the UN Refugee Agency, refugees are individuals who find themselves outside their home country due to a justified fear of persecution based on different factors such as race, religion, nationality, membership in a specific social group, or political opinion. They can be without a nationality, residing outside their home countries, and unable or unwilling to return there due to a fear of persecution.^[3] The UN Refugee Convention determines what conditions are required to be considered a refugee or when someone's refugee status is taken away due to circumstances changing in their country of origin.^[4]

Causes for the refugee crises can include war, civil war, human rights violations, environment and climate issues, economic hardship, gender and sexual orientation-related factors, and hunger.^[5]

In June 2015 the UN refugee agency reported thatwars andpersecutions are the main reasons behind the refugee crises all over the world. A decade earlier, six people were forced to leave their homes every 60 seconds, but in 2015 wars drove 24 people on average away from their homes each minute.^[6] In itsBorder Wars series, theTransnational Institute examines the role of the arms industry in creating and profiting from forced displacement, underscoring that "some of the beneficiaries of border security contracts are some of the biggest arms sellers to the Middle-East and North-Africa, fueling the conflicts in the region that have led refugees to flee their homes. In other words, the companies contributing to the refugee crisis are now profiting from the consequences."^[7]

Discrimination and inequality can also lead many individuals and families to move away from their homelands to other countries or regions (for exampleAustralia,Europe,New Zealand,Nigeria andNorth America).^[8]

Although they do not fit the definition of refugees set out in theUN Convention, people displaced by the effects ofclimate change have often been termed "climate refugees"^[9] or "climate change refugees".^[10] The term 'environmental refugee' is also commonly used and an estimated 25 million people can currently be classified as such.^[11] The alarming predictions by the UN, charities and some environmentalists, that between 200 million and 1 billion people could flood across international borders to escape the impacts of climate change in the next 40 years are realistic.^[12] Case studies from Bolivia, Senegal and Tanzania, three countries that are said to be prone to suffering the effects of climate change, show that people affected by environmental degradation rarely move across borders. Instead, they adapt to new circumstances by moving short distances for short periods, often to cities.^[13] Millions of people live in places that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. They face extreme weather conditions such as droughts or floods. Their lives and livelihoods might be threatened in new ways and create new vulnerabilities.^[14]

Following the effects ofHurricane Katrina in 2005, the termrefugee was sometimes used to describe people displaced by the storm and the aftereffects. There was an outcry that the term should not be used to describe Americans displaced within their own county, and the termevacuee was substituted in its place.^[15] TheUNHCR similarly opposes the use of the termrefugee in reference to environmental migrants, as this term has a strict legal definition.^[16]

This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Refugees often face, language barriers, trauma and mental health issues, and limited social networks.^[17] The labor market integration of refugees is more complex than that of economic migrants, as additionally they usually have experienced trauma in their country of origin or have undergone long periods of travel or stay in temporary settlements (e.g. refugee camps) along the way.^[17]

A forcibly displaced person is distinguished from an economic migrant. In 2008, theUN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs suggested a better term for migrants who fled for the purpose of their and their dependents' basic survival was "forced humanitarian migrants".^[18] These economic migrants fall outside the mandates of the support structures offered by governments and non-governmental organizations forrefugees.^{[citation needed]}

Even economic migration requires a certain level of 'wealth' as migration is always a selective process - and the poorest and most vulnerable people are often excluded as they will find it almost impossible to move due to a lack of necessary funds or social support.^[11]

An example is the 2008-2009 mass movement ofZimbabweans to neighboring countries. Most migrants did not fit in either category and had more general needs that fell outside the specific mandate of the UNHCR.^[19]

Women and children refugees face a disproportionate threat ofviolence throughout their migratory journeys and withinrefugee camps.^[20] Violence targeting women who travel alone and women who travel with children is an example ofGender-Based Violence.^[21] The most common forms ofGender-Based Violence includerape and other forms ofsexual assault,human trafficking, andforced sex, often in exchange for passage to Europe viahuman smugglers.^[21]

Moria Refugee Camp is Europe's largest refugee camp and is located onLesvos Island,Greece. Moria Refugee Camp was originally designed for 3,500 people, however it currently holds more than 20,000 people.^[22] Moria Refugee Camp is considered by many in the international community as an unsafe environment for women and children. On 29 September 2019 a deadly fire broke out in Moria Refugee Camp killing at least one person.^[23] Following the fire, inhabitants of the camp began protesting the inhumane conditions of Moria Refugee Camp and ariot broke out leaving one woman and child dead.^[23] MultipleNon-Government Organizations continue to work within Moria Refugee Camp in response to the dangerous conditions that disproportionately affect women and children with the goal of reducinggender-based violence from the refugee camp.

Large groups of displaced persons could be abused as 'weapons' to threaten either political enemies or neighbouring countries.Refugees as Weapons is mass exodus of refugees from a state to a hostile state as a "weapon" against an enemy. Weaponized migration occurs when a challenging state or non-state actor exploits human migration—whether voluntary or forced—in order to achieve political, military, and/or economic objectives. The concept is categorized into infiltration, coercive, dispossessive, exportive, fifth Column.

Since the establishment of theUnited Nations High Commission for Refugees, instances of population displacement have been identified by registered non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in countries where local governments fail to provide or protect the economic means and social rights of their citizens.^{[citation needed]} In 1963,Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, then Deputy High Commissioner, stated – after visiting Africa – that some refugees are "a by product" and will probably "not have much of a chance to return to their country".^[24]

TheAga Khan Development Network, led by the current Ismaili imam, theAga Khan IV, is engaged in "enhanced cooperation" with theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to "help broaden the way the international community responds to crises today".^[25]

Following the US-led intervention in Afghanistan in 2001,NATO joined forces to address the volatile situation. By the end of 2014, as NATO forces withdrew, Afghanistan faced political challenges despite having conducted elections and establishing an elected president.^[26] Recognizing the persistent weakness in the political infrastructure, the United Nations responded by establishing the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.UNAMA collaborated with theOffice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and various Afghan organizations. The focus was on monitoring the situation of the civilian population, taking into account efforts to promote protection and assist in full implementation of fundamental freedoms and human rights provisions of the Afghan Constitution and international treaties to which Afghanistan is a State Party.^[27]

The flow of migrants can be reduced by removing the causes of migration like wars, for example. TheUnited Nations urge to make more efforts for achieving this type of solutions.^[28]

TheEuropean Union has many tools for addressing the root causes of the crisis: "such as the trust funds for Africa and for the Syrian refugee crisis, the Facility for Refugees in Turkey and the EU's External Investment Plan"^[29] However, as theTransnational Institute criticised in a 2021 report, "Europe is creating refugees through its arms trade. If the EU and its member states genuinely want to address what they perceive as a "migration crisis", they must curb arms exports, improve accountability mechanisms, and end the unbridled lobbying efforts of arms companies in the corridors of power in Brussels and other European capitals."^[30]

Germany is trying to prevent the root causes of the migrant crisis in Africa. It created a "Marshall Plan with Africa" (Eckpunkte für einen Marshallplan mit Afrika). The main objectives of the plan are: "increasing trade and development on the continent and hopefully reducing mass migration flows north across the Mediterranean". It will concentrate on " fair trade, increased private investment, bottom-up economic development, entrepreneurship, and job creation and employment". TheEuropean Union offered an aid package toMali in return for taking back her refugees.^[31] Among other ways, it is trying to reduce the migrant flow from Ghana by helping the population to find employment in this country^[32]

Another example of addressing the root causes of the crisis isThe Mesopotamian Ecology Movement (MEM) attempts to conserve the water resources of the region by different methods, including "returning to traditional water-conserving cultivation techniques", as well as "communal economy". Political stability and peace in the region are important to achieve the target^[33][34] Kurdistan is an area relatively rich in water, especially for theMiddle East region. Large part of the water ofIraq,Iran,Syria,Turkey come from it. It means that water resource conservation in it, is important to the water supply of the region, what can help prevent wars and reach stability. Kurdistan has hosted 2,250,000 refugees fleeing conflict zones elsewhere in Iraq and Syria, by 2015.^[35][36] This can help prevent refugee waves to Europe and United States.^[6][37]

Various methods have been proposed and implemented to forecast refugee trends to and from various countries, including aspect structuring^[38] and the Bayesian semiparametric approach.^[39] Forecasting refugee trends is useful for national and international immigration policies, relief efforts, and economic projections including unemployment rates.

The examples and perspective in this articlemay not represent aworldwide view of the subject. You mayimprove this article, discuss the issue on thetalk page, orcreate a new article, as appropriate.(August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The termboat people came into common use in the 1970s with the mass exodus of Vietnamese refugees following theVietnam War. It is a widely used form of migration for people migrating fromCuba,Haiti,Morocco,Vietnam orAlbania. They often risk their lives on dangerously crude and overcrowded boats to escape oppression orpoverty in their home nations. Events resulting from theVietnam War led many people inCambodia,Laos, and especiallyVietnam to become refugees in the late 1970s and 1980s. In 2001, 353 asylum seekers sailing fromIndonesia to Australia drowned when theirvessel sank.

5Cuban refugees attempted (unsuccessfully, but un-harmed) to reachFlorida in a 1950s pickup truck made buoyant by oil barrels strapped to its sides.^{[citation needed]}

Boat people are frequently a source of controversy in the nation they seek to immigrate to, such as the United States, New Zealand, Germany, France, Russia, Canada, Italy, Japan,South Korea, Spain and Australia. Boat people are often forcibly prevented from landing at their destination, such as under Australia'sPacific Solution (which operated from 2001 until 2008), or they are subjected tomandatory detention after their arrival.

There are three Mediterranean refugee routes: Eastern, Central and Western route.^{[citation needed]} Since 2015 more than 700.000 refugees and other migrants used these routes (i.e. the Eastern Balkan route and the Western Balkan route) from Greece through theBalkan to enter central European countries. Since March 2016 the Eastern route is almost closed, but the Western route is still^[when?] busy.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2018^[update], 70.8 million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide because of persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations, per theUN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Of these, 5.5 million were Palestinian refugees, which are not under UNHCR but underUNRWA's mandate.

Since 2007, the refugee estimates include not only refugees per the narrow 1951 UN definition, but also people in refugee-like situations, so figures prior to 2007 are not fully comparable. The figure also includesinternally displaced persons (IDP) within their country and people in IDP-like situations, which is descriptive and includes groups of persons who are inside their country of nationality or habitual residence and who face protection risks similar to those of IDPs but who, for practical or other reasons, could not be reported as such and stateless persons.^[40]

Since the 1950s, many nations in Africa have sufferedcivil wars and ethnic strife, thus generating a massive number of refugees of many differentnationalities andethnic groups. The number of refugees in Africa increased from 860,000 in 1968 to 6,775,000 by 1992.^[51] By the end of 2004, that number had dropped to 2,748,400 refugees, according to theUnited Nations High Commission for Refugees.^[52] (That figure does not includeinternally displaced persons, who do not cross international borders and so do not fit the official definition of refugee.)

Many refugees in Africa cross into neighboring countries to find haven; often, African countries are simultaneously countries of origin for refugees and countries of asylum for other refugees. TheDemocratic Republic of Congo, for instance, was the country of origin for 462,203 refugees at the end of 2004, but a country of asylum for 199,323 other refugees. The largest number of refugees in 2004 are from Sudan and have fled either the longstanding and recently concludedSudanese Civil War or theWar in Darfur and are located mainly inChad,Uganda,Ethiopia, andKenya.

TheInternational Organization for Migration has stated that refugee migration into Algeria has markedly increased since 2014, with most refugees arriving from Niger.^[53] According to theAssociated Press over 14,000 refugees were expelled from Algeria between August 2017 and June 2018, with refugees forced to walk on foot through theSahara to small towns in Niger. The AP reported that as many as 30,000 refugees had died in the desert in Algeria, Niger and nearby countries since 2014.^[53]

Refugees of the 2011 Libyan civil war are the people, predominantly ofLibyan nationality, who fled or were expelled from their homes during the2011 Libyan civil war, from within the borders ofLibya to the neighbouring states of Tunisia, Egypt and Chad, as well as to European countries, across the Mediterranean, asBoat people. The majority of Libyan refugees are Arabs and Berbers, though many of other ethnicities, temporarily living in Libya, originated from sub-Saharan Africa, were also among the first refugee waves to exit the country. The total Libyan refugee numbers are estimated at near one million as of June 2011. About half of them had returned to Libyan territory during summer 2011, though large refugee camps on Tunisian and Chad border kept being overpopulated.

It is estimated that between 165,000 – 200,000Sahrawis – people from the disputed territory ofWestern Sahara – have lived in five large refugee camps nearTindouf in the Algerian part of theSahara Desert since 1975.^[54][55] TheUNHCR andWFP are presently engaged in supporting what they describe as the "90,000 most vulnerable" refugees, giving no estimate for total refugee numbers.^[56]

Decolonization during the 1960s and 1970s often resulted in the mass exodus ofEuropean-descended settlers out of Africa – especially from North Africa (1.6 million Europeanpieds noirs),^[57] Congo, Mozambique and Angola.^[58] By the mid-1970s, the Portugal's African territories were lost, and nearly one million Portuguese or persons of Portuguese descent left those territories (mostly PortugueseAngola andMozambique) as destitute refugees – theretornados.^[59]

TheAngolan Civil War (1975–2002), one of the largest and deadliest Cold War conflicts, erupted shortly after and spread out across the newly independent country. At least one million people were killed, four million were displaced internally and another half million fled as refugees.^[60]

In the aftermath of the 1994Rwandan genocide, over two million people fled into neighboring countries, in particularZaire. The refugee camps were soon controlled by the former government andHutu militants who used the camps as bases to launch attacks against the new government inRwanda. Little action was taken to resolve the situation and the crisis did not end until Rwanda-supported rebels forced the refugees back across the border at the beginning of theFirst Congo War.

There are tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees in Egypt, most of them seeking refuge from ongoing military conflicts in their home country of Sudan. Their official status as refugees is highly disputed, and they have been subject to racial discrimination and police violence. They live among a much larger population of Sudanese migrants in Egypt, more than two million people of Sudanese nationality (by most estimates; a full range is 750,000 to 4 million (FMRS 2006:5) who live in Egypt. The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants believes many more of these migrants are in fact refugees, but see little benefit in seeking recognition.

An estimated 2.5 million people, roughly one-third the population of theDarfur area, have been forced to flee their homes after attacks byJanjaweedArab militia backed by Sudanese troops during the ongoing war in Darfur in westernSudan since roughly 2003.^[61][62]

Following Boko Haram's violence thousands of Nigerians fled to Niger and Cameroon

Following the outbreak of civil war in Somalia, many of the country's residents left in search of asylum. According to the UNHCR, there were around 976,500 registered refugees from the nation in adjacent states as of 2016.^[63] The majority of these individuals were registered inKenya (413,170: 326,611 inDadaab, 54,550 inKakuma, 32,009 inNairobi),^[64]Yemen (253,876 in UNHCR centers and urban areas),^[63] andEthiopia (213,775 in five camps inDollo Ado).^[65] Additionally, 1.1 million people were internally displaced persons (IDPs).^[66] Most of the IDPs wereBantus and other ethnic minorities originating from the southern regions, including those displaced in the north.^{[citation needed]} An estimated 60% of the IDPs were children.^[67] Causes of the displacement included armed violence, diverted aid flows and natural disasters, which hindered the IDPs' access to safe shelter and resources.^[68] IDP settlements were concentrated in south-central Somalia (893,000), followed by the northernPuntland (129,000) andSomaliland (84,000) regions.^[67] Additionally, there were around 9,356 registered refugees and 11,157 registered asylum seekers in Somalia.^[63] Most of these foreign nationals emigrated from Yemen to northern Somalia after theHouthi insurgency in 2015.^[69]

In the 1970sUganda and other East African nations implemented racist policies that targeted the Asian population of the region. Uganda underIdi Amin's leadership was particularly most virulent in its anti-Asian policies, eventually resulting in theexpulsion and ethnic cleansing of Uganda's Asian minority.^[70] Uganda's 80,000 Asians were mostly Indians born in the country. India had refused to accept them.^[71] Most of the expelled Indians eventually settled in the United Kingdom, Canada and in the United States.^[72]

TheLord's Resistance Army insurgency forced many civilians to live in internally displaced person camps.

The United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) provides new opportunities for refugees, to help them integrate into society, give hope to refugees living in difficult circumstances abroad, and save lives. Statistically, refugees report that the program has enabled them to support themselves soon after arrival (92%), helped them integrate (77%), and had a positive economic impact on the local community (71%). (Kerwin, 2021)^[73]

During theVietnam War, many U.S. citizens who wereconscientious objectors and wished toavoid the draft sought political asylum in Canada. PresidentJimmy Carter issued anamnesty. Since 1975, the U.S. has resettled approximately 2.6 million refugees, with nearly 77% being either Indochinese or citizens of the former Soviet Union. Since the enactment of theRefugee Act of 1980, annual admissions figures have ranged from a high of 207,116 in 1980 to a low of 27,100 in 2002.

Currently, nine nationalvoluntary agencies resettle refugees nationwide on behalf of the U.S. government:Church World Service, Ethiopian Community Development Council, Episcopal Migration Ministries,Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society,International Rescue Committee,U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service,United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, andWorld Relief.

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA (JRS/USA) has worked to help resettle Bhutanese refugees in the United States. The mission of JRS/USA is to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. JRS/USA is one of 10 geographic regions of Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic organization sponsored by the Society of Jesus. In coordination with JRS's International Office in Rome, JRS/USA provides advocacy, financial and human resources for JRS regions throughout the world.

The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) funds a number of organizations that provide technical assistance to voluntary agencies and local refugee resettlement organizations.^[74] RefugeeWorks, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is ORR's training and technical assistance arm for employment and self-sufficiency activities, for example. This nonprofit organization assists refugee service providers in their efforts to help refugees achieve self-sufficiency. RefugeeWorks publishes white papers, newsletters and reports on refugee employment topics.^[75]

The US government position on refugees states that there is repression of religiousminorities in the Middle East and in Pakistan such as Christians, Hindus, as well asAhmadi, andZikri denominations of Islam. In Sudan, where Islam is the state religion, Muslims dominate the government and restrict activities of Christians, practitioners of traditional Africanindigenous religions and other non-Muslims.^[76] The question of Jewish, Christian and other refugees fromArab and Muslim countries was introduced in March 2007 in theUS Congress.^[77]

In 2016, the Obama administration announced a commitment to increase the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. to 110,000 in 2017, from the rate of 85,000 in the 2016 fiscal year, in addition to a private sector call to action in thePartnership for Refugees.^[78]

In 2022, afterRussia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and a wave of Ukrainians entered the US via Mexico, the US government created the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program. This program provides a 2-yearparole period for Ukrainians if a US sponsor agrees to financially support them.^[79] Ukrainians on U4U are not classified as refugees under US law, and most do not meet the US legal requirements for asylum,^[80] meaning most have no legal pathway to stay in the US long-term.^[81] There is no cap to the number of people who can come to the US on U4U; over 170,000 had come as of December 2023.^[82]

In late 2022 and early 2023, the US government created another parole program, this time forCubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.^[83] This program is similar to Uniting for Ukraine except that the number of beneficiaries is capped at 30,000 per month, causing yearslong wait times.^[84]

In 1982 there were substantial refugees in Costa Rica from Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Haiti, El Salvador and other South American countries, either staying in Costa Rica or waiting for acceptance into another country.^[85]

More than one millionSalvadorans were displaced during theSalvadoran Civil War from 1975 to 1982. About half went to the United States, most settling in theLos Angeles area.

There was a large exodus ofGuatemalans during the 1980s, trying to escape from the civil war there. Conflict between the Guatemalan military and guerilla forces contributed to high death tolls and is considered to be the leading cause of death in the early 1980s.^[85] In 1984 there were on average 46,000 Guatemalan refugees in Mexico, vastly exceeding its surroundings Central American neighbors, who were only taking in small amounts of Guatemalan refugees.^[86]

The victory of the forces led byFidel Castro in theCuban Revolution led to a large exodus ofCubans between 1959 and 1980. Thousands of Cubans yearly continue to risk the waters of theStraits of Florida seeking better economic and political conditions in the U.S. In 1999 the highly publicized case of six-year-oldElián González brought the covert migration to international attention. Measures by both governments have attempted to address the issue. The U.S. government instituted awet feet, dry feet policy allowing refuge to those travelers who manage to complete their journey, and the Cuban government has periodically allowed for mass migration by organizing leaving posts. The most famous of these agreed migrations was theMariel boatlift of 1980.

From 1991 through 1994, following the militarycoup d'état against PresidentJean-Bertrand Aristide, thousands ofHaitians fled violence and repression by boat. Although most were repatriated to Haiti by the U.S. government, others entered the United States as refugees. Haitians were primarily regarded aseconomic migrants from the grinding poverty of Haiti, the poorest nation in theWestern Hemisphere.

Colombia has one of the world's largest populations ofinternally displaced persons (IDPs), with estimates ranging from 2.6 to 4.3 million people, due to the ongoingColombian armed conflict. The larger figure is cumulative since 1985.^[87][88] It is now estimated by theU.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants that there are about 150,000Colombians in "refugee-like situations" in the United States, not recognized as refugees or subject to any formal protection.

The Venezuelan diaspora is the large-scale emigration of millions of Venezuelans following the establishment ofHugo Chávez'sBolivarian Revolution and its continuation through Chávez's successor,Nicolás Maduro.^{[89][90][91][92]} The Bolivarian government's policies resulted inincreased crime,^[93]poverty,^[94][95][96]food shortages,^[97] andwidespread corruption,^[98] all of which culminated into thecrisis in Bolivarian Venezuela. The diaspora resulted in the largest recorded refugee crisis in theAmericas.^[99][100] Between 1998 and 2018, about 4 million Venezuelans —over 10% of Venezuela's entire population— had emigrated from the Latin American country due to the crisis.^[101]

From theSoviet invasion in 1979 until the late 2001U.S.-led invasion, a total of six millioncitizens of Afghanistan have migrated to neighboring parts ofPakistan andIran. Since early 2002, however, more than 4 million of theseAfghan refugees have voluntarilyrepatriated through theUNHCR from Pakistan to Afghanistan.^{[102][103][104]}

As of late 2016, some 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees still remain in Pakistan.^[105][106] Most of these were born and raised in Pakistan during the last 35 years but are still counted as citizens of Afghanistan.^[107] They were allowed to reside and work in Pakistan until the end of 2018.^[108]

In the meantime, about a millionAfghans refugees remain in Iran, which include the many who were born inside Iran during the last 35 years.^[109] The number of Afghan refugees is decreasing significantly every year due to voluntary repatriation. For instance, in 2017 alone, over half a million of them returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan and Iran.^[110]

The 2011 industrialized country asylum data notes a 30% increase in applications from Afghans from 2010 to 2011, primarily towards Germany and Turkey.^[111]

Since the beginning US military intervention against the Taliban in Pakistan over 1.2 million people have been displaced in across the country, joined by a further 555,000 Pakistanis uprooted by fighting since August 2008.

The partition of theBritish Raj provinces ofPunjab andBengal and the subsequent independence of Pakistan and one day later of India in 1947 resulted in the largest human movement in history. In this population exchange, approximately 7 millionHindus andSikhs fromBangladesh and Pakistan moved to India while approximately 7 million Muslims from India moved to Pakistan. Approximately one million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs died during this event.^{[citation needed]}

As a result of theBangladesh Liberation War, on 27 March 1971, Prime Minister of India,Indira Gandhi, expressed full support of her Government to the Bangladeshi struggle for freedom. The Bangladesh-India border was opened to allow panic-stricken Bangladeshis' safe shelter in India. The governments ofWest Bengal,Bihar,Assam,Meghalaya andTripura established refugee camps along the border. Exiled Bangladeshi army officers and the Indian military immediately started using these camps for recruitment and training members ofMukti Bahini. During the Bangladesh War of Independence around 10 million Bangladeshis fled the country to escape the killings andatrocities committed by thePakistan Army.Bangladeshi refugees are known as '"Chakmas"' in India. Other than chakmas there areBengali Hindu refugee are also there who remain in India after war.

Thecivil war inSri Lanka, from 1983 to 2009 had generated thousands of internally displaced people as well as refugees most of them being theTamils. Many Sri Lankans have fled to neighbourly India and western countries such as Canada, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

While successive policies of discrimination and intimidation of theTamils drove thousands to flee seeking asylum, the brutal end to the Civil War and the ongoing repression have forced a wave of thousands of refugees migrate,^[112] to countries like Canada, the UK and especially Australia. Australia in particular, receives hundreds of refugees every month.

About 94,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees live in 107 camps in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.^[113]

According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), about 300,000 HinduKashmiri Pandits have been forced to leave the state ofJammu and Kashmir due to Islamic militancy and religious discrimination from the Muslim majority, making them refugees in their own country.^[114] Some have found refuge inJammu and its adjoining areas, while others in camps inDelhi and others in other states of India and other countries too. Kashmiri groups peg the number of migrants closer to 500,000.^[115]

During the period of united Pakistan (1947–1971), theUrdu-speakingBiharis did not assimilate into the society of Bangladesh and have remained a distinct cultural-linguistic group ever since. after the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 the different linguistic group was assaulted by Bengalis because of their^[who?] active participation with the Pakistani armed forces in committing genocide over the local populace. Some atrocities took place against Biharis. At the end of the war many Biharis took shelter in refugee camps in different cities, the biggest being the Geneva Camp inDhaka. It is estimated that about 250,000 Biharis are living in those camps and in Rangpur and Dinajpur districts today. after 1971 many have still been living in Bangladesh while opting to be a repatriated to Pakistan.^{[citation needed]}

Bangladesh hosts around 860,000 MuslimRohingya refugees who were forced out of their homes in westernBurma (Myanmar) and fled in 2017 and earlier in^[116] 1991-92 in order to escape persecution by the Burmese military junta.^[117] Many have lived there for close to twenty years. The Bangladeshi government divides the Rohingya into two categories – recognized refugees living in official camps and unrecognized refugees living in unofficial sites or among Bangladeshi communities. Around 30,000 Rohingyas are residing in two camps in the Nayapara and Kutupalong areas of theCox's Bazar district in Bangladesh. These camp residents have access to basic services, those outside do not. With no changes inside Burma in sight, Bangladesh must come to terms with the long-term needs of all the Rohingya refugees in the country and allow international organizations to expand services that benefit the Rohingya as well as local communities.

The agency has been supporting Rohingya refugees staying in the camps. On the other hand, it is not receiving applications for refugee status from the newly arrived Rohingyas. This amounts to a compromise of its mandate.The brutal campaign ofethnic cleansing against Muslims in Arakan State by the Burmese military in 1991-92 caused a refugee crisis in which thousands of people have been detained in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh and tens of thousands of others have been repatriated to Burma where they face further repression. There are widespread allegations ofreligious persecution, use of forced labor and denial of citizenship to many Rohingyas who were forced to return to Burma since 1996.Many have again fled to Bangladesh in order to seek work or shelter, or to flee from Burmese military oppression, and some are forced across the border by Burmese security forces. In the past few months, abuses against Rohingya inArakan State have continued, including strict registration laws that continue to deny Rohingya citizenship, restrictions on their movement, land confiscation and forced evictions to make way for Buddhist Burmese settlements, widespread forced labor in infrastructure projects and the closure of some mosques, including nine in the North Buthidaung Township of Western Arakan State in the last half of 2006.^{[118][119][120]}

An estimated 90,000 people were displaced in the 2012sectarian violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Burma's westernRakhine State.^[121]

There are also large numbers of MuslimRohingya refugees in Pakistan. Most of them have made perilous journeys acrossBangladesh and India and settled inKarachi.

After the1959 Tibetan exodus, there are more than 150,000Tibetans who live in Nepal. These include people who have escaped over theHimalayas fromTibet, as well as their children and grandchildren. In Nepal the overwhelming majority of Tibetans born in Nepal are still stateless and carry a document called an Identity Card issued by the Nepalese government in lieu of a passport. This document states the nationality of the holder as Tibetan. It is a document that is frequently rejected as a valid travel document by many customs and immigrations departments. The Tibetan refugees also own aGreen Book issued by theTibetan Government in Exile for rights and duties towards this administration.

In 1991–92, Bhutan expelled roughly 100,000 ethnicNepalis known asLhotshampas from the southern part of the country. Most of them have been living in seven refugee camps run by UNHCR in eastern Nepal ever since. In March 2008, this population began a multiyear resettlement to other countries including the United States, New Zealand, Denmark, Canada, Norway and Australia. At present, the United States is working towards resettling more than 60,000 of these refugees in the US as a third country settlement programme.^[122]

Meanwhile, as many as 200,000 Nepalese were displaced during theMaoist insurgency andNepalese Civil War which ended in 2006.

By 2009, more than 3 million civilians had been displaced by theInsurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2004–present).^[123]

Since 1991, much of the country's non-Muslim population, including non-ethnic Tajikistan'sRussians andBukharian Jews, have fledTajikistan due to severe poverty, instability andTajikistani Civil War (1992–1997). In 1992, most of the country's Jewish population was evacuated to Israel.^[124] Most of the ethnic Russian population fled to Russia. By the end of the civil war Tajikistan was in a state of complete devastation. Around 1.2 million people were refugees inside and outside of the country.^[125] Due to severe poverty a lot of Tajiks had to migrate to Russia.47% of Tajikistan's GDP comes from immigrant remittances (from Tajiks working in Russia).^[126][127]

In 1989, after bloody pogroms against theMeskhetian Turks in Central Asia'sFerghana Valley, nearly 90,000 Meskhetian Turks leftUzbekistan.^[128][129]

The2010 ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan left some 300,000 people internally displaced, and around 100,000 sought refuge in Uzbekistan.^[130]

After the communist takeovers in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in 1975, about three million people attempted to escape in the subsequent decades. With the massive influx of refugees daily, the resources of the receiving countries were severely strained. The plight of theboat people became an international humanitarian crisis. TheUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) set up refugee camps in neighboring countries to process the boat people. The budget of the UNHCR increased from $80 million in 1975 to $500 million in 1980. Partly for its work in Indochina, the UNHCR was awarded the 1981 Nobel Peace Prize.

• Large numbers of Vietnamese refugees came into existence after 1975 whenSouth Vietnam fell to thecommunist forces. Many tried to escape, some by boat, thus giving rise to the phrase "boat people". The Vietnamese refugees emigrated to Hong Kong, France, the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries, creating sizeable expatriate communities, notably in the United States. Since 1975, an estimated 1.4 million refugees from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries have been resettled to the United States.^[131] Most Asian countries were unwilling to accept refugees.^[132]
• Survivors of theKhmer Rouge regime inCambodia fled across the border intoThailand after the Vietnamese invasion of 1978–79. Approximately 300,000 of these people were eventually resettled in the United States, France, Canada, and Australia between 1979 and 1992, when the camps were closed and the remaining people repatriated.
• Nearly 400,000 Laotians fled to Thailand after theVietnam War and communist takeover in 1975. Some left because of persecution by the government for religious or ethnic purposes. Most left between 1976 and 1985 and lived in refugee camps along the border betweenThailand andLaos. They mostly settled in the United States, Canada, France, and Australia. In the United States they mostly settled inWashington State,California, Washington, D.C.,Texas,Virginia, andMinnesota.
• The Mien orYao recently lived in northernVietnam, northernLaos and northernThailand. In 1975, thePathet Lao forces began seeking reprisal for the involvement of many Mien as soldiers in theCIA-sponsored militias in theLaotian Civil War. As a token of appreciation to the Mien andHmong people who served in theCIA secret army, the United States accepted many of the refugees asnaturalizedcitizens (Mien American). Many moreHmong continue to seek asylum in neighboring Thailand.^[133]
• Due to the persecution of the ethnicKaren,Karenni and other minority populations in Burma (Myanmar) significant numbers of refugees live along the Thai border in camps of up to 100,000 people. Since 2006,^[134] over 55,000 Burmese refugees have been resettled in the United States.^[135]
• Muslim ethnic groups supposed to be from Burma, theRohingya and otherArakanese have been living in camps inBangladesh since the 1990s. Both Bangladesh and Burma claimed that the Rohingya are not their citizens.^[136][137]

Azerbaijan launched amilitary offensive in September 2023, following aten-month military siege of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) involving the sabotage of public infrastructure and the blockade of essential supplies, which caused a humanitarian crisis.^[138][139] Before theSecond Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the region had an estimated population of 150,000 which decreased in the aftermath of the war.^[140] Faced with extremeanti-Armenian sentiment and threats of violence, over 100,000 ethnic Armenians — representing 99% of the remaining population of Nagorno-Karabakh,^{[141][142][143]} —fled to Armenia, triggering a refugee crisis in the country.^[144][145] Observers, including international leaders and human rights organizations, have characterized the displacement asethnic cleansing or acrime against humanity.^{[146][147][148][149]} Armenia has struggled to absorb and support the incoming refugees, facing acute challenges in funding, housing, and long-term integration for those uprooted.^[150][151]

A heavy exodus of the non-Jewish population of Palestine took place in 1948. Though usually described as byproduct of the1948 Arab-Israeli War, the first and largest wave of Palestinian refugees took place in early 1948, shortly after theDeir Yassin massacre—preceding, therefore, said war,^[152] with expulsions of Palestinians continuing to happen for some years thereafter. According to files belonging to theIsraeli army that came under the attention of Israeli historians such asBenny Morris, the overwhelming majority (about 73%) of Palestinian refugees left as a result of actions undertaken by Zionist militias and Jewish authorities, with a smaller percentage, about 5%, leaving voluntarily.^{[153][154][155]} By the end of 1948, there were about 700,000 Palestinian refugees.^[152]

Following the departure of refugees, properties, lands, money, and bank accounts belonging to Palestinians were frozen and confiscated.^[156] Jewish ownership of the land, which by late 1947 accounted for less than 6% ofMandatory Palestine and less than 10% of the territory the UN allotted to the Jewish state, swelled.^[157]

Dispossession and displacement of Palestinians continued in the decades after Israel's independence, and renewal of conflicts between Israel and its neighbors. During the 1967 war, about 400,000 Palestinians, half of whom were 1948 refugees, fled their lands in the West Bank following advances by the Israeli army and settled in Jordan.^[158] In the 2000s, Israel blacklisted the refugees from that war to impede them from returning and reclaiming their properties and lands, which have been allocated to Jewish settlements and Israeli military bases.^[159] Israel has also admitted to revoking the residency rights of 250,000 Palestinians in the occupied territories in the period between 1967 and 1994, the year of the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, after they left temporarily to study and work abroad.^[160]

Palestinian refugees and their descendants spread throughout the Arab world; the largest populations are found in neighboring Levantine countries—Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. The populations of the West Bank and Gaza are also composed to a large extent of refugees and their descendants.^[161] Until 1967, the West Bank and Gaza were officially ruled, respectively, by Jordan and Egypt. Jordan's Hashemite Kingdom was the only Arab government to have granted citizenship to Palestinian refugees.

Palestinian refugees from 1948 and their descendants do not come under the 1951 UNConvention Relating to the Status of Refugees, but under theUN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which created its own criteria for refugee classification. The great majority of Palestinian refugees have kept the refugee status for generations, under a special decree of the UN,^[162][163] and legally defined to include descendants of refugees, as well as others who might otherwise be consideredinternally displaced persons.^{[citation needed]}

As of December 2005, the World Refugee Survey of theU.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants estimates the total number of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to be 2,966,100.Palestinian refugees number almost half of Jordan's population, however they have assimilated into Jordanian society, having a full citizenship. In Syria, though not officially becoming citizens, most of the Palestinian refugees were granted resident rights and issued travel documents. Following the Oslo Agreements, attempts were made to integrate the displaced Palestinians and their descendants into the Palestinian community. In addition, Israel granted permissions for family reunions and return of only about 10,000 Fatah members to the West Bank. The refugee situation and the presence ofnumerous refugee camps continues to be a point of contention in theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict.

ThePalestinian exodus from Kuwait took place during and after theGulf War. There were 400,000 Palestinians in Kuwait before the Gulf War. During the Gulf War, more than 200,000 Palestinians fled Kuwait during theIraqi occupation of Kuwait due to harassment and intimidation byIraqi security forces,^[164] in addition to getting fired from work by Iraqi authority figures in Kuwait.^[164] After the Gulf War in 1991, Kuwaiti authorities pressured nearly 200,000 Palestinians to leave Kuwait.^[165] The policy which partly led to this exodus was a response to the alignment ofPLO leaderYasser Arafat withSaddam Hussein.

As of January 2024, more than 85% of Palestinians inGaza, approximately 1.9 million people, were internally displaced during theGaza war.^[166]

TheJewish exodus from the Muslim world was the departure, flight, expulsion, evacuation and migration, of 850,000 Jews,^[167][168] primarily ofSephardi andMizrahi background, fromArab andMuslim countries, mainly from 1948 to the early 1970s.They and their descendants make up the majority ofIsraeli Jews.

A number of small-scale Jewish exoduses began in many Middle Eastern countries early in the 20th century with the only substantialaliyah coming from Yemen and Syria.^[169] Prior to thecreation of Israel in 1948, approximately 800,000 Jews were living in lands that now make up theArab world. Of these, just under two-thirds lived in the French and Italian-controlledNorth Africa, 15–20% in theKingdom of Iraq, approximately 10% in theKingdom of Egypt and approximately 7% in theKingdom of Yemen. A further 200,000 lived inPahlavi Iran and theRepublic of Turkey.

The first large-scale exoduses took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from Iraq, Yemen and Libya. In these cases over 90% of the Jewish population left, despite the necessity of leaving their property behind.^[170] Two hundred and sixty thousand Jews from Arab countries immigrated toIsrael between 1948 and 1951, accounting for 56% of the total immigration to the newly founded state.^[171] Following the establishment of the State of Israel, a plan to accommodate 600,000 immigrants over four years, doubling the existing Jewish population, was submitted by the Israeli government to the Knesset.^[172] The plan, however, encountered mixed reactions; there were those within the Jewish Agency and government who opposed promoting a large-scale emigration movement among Jews whose lives were not in danger.^[172]

Later waves peaked at different times in different regions over the subsequent decades. The peak of the exodus from Egypt occurred in 1956 following theSuez Crisis. The exodus from the other North African Arab countries peaked in the 1960s. Lebanon was the only Arab country to see a temporary increase in its Jewish population during this period, due to an influx of Jews from other Arab countries, although by the mid-1970s the Jewish community of Lebanon had also dwindled. Six hundred thousand Jews from Arab and Muslim countries had reached Israel by 1972.^{[173][174][175]} In total, of the 900,000 Jews who left Arab and other Muslim countries, 600,000 settled in the new state of Israel, and 300,000 immigrated to France and the United States. The descendants of the Jewish immigrants from the region, known asMizrahi Jews ("Eastern Jews") and Sephardic Jews ("Spanish Jews"), currently constitute more than half of the total population of Israel,^[176] partially as a result of their higherfertility rate.^[177] In 2009, only 26,000 Jews remained in Arab countries and Iran^[178] and 26,000 inTurkey.^[179]

The reasons for the exodus includedpush factors, such aspersecution,antisemitism, political instability,^[180] poverty^[180] and expulsion, together withpull factors, such as the desire to fulfillZionist yearnings or find a better economic status and a secure home in Europe or the Americas. The history of the exodus has been politicized, given its proposed relevance to the historical narrative of theArab–Israeli conflict.

After the 1967 war, when Israel launched pre-emptive attacks on Egypt and Syrian and annexed theGolan Heights. Israel destroyed 139 Syrian villages in the occupied territory of theGolan Heights and 130,000 of its residents fled or were expelled from their lands, which now serve the purpose of settlements and military bases. About 9,000 Syrians, all of whom of theDruze ethno-religious group, were allowed to remain in their lands.^[181]

It is estimated that 40% of theGreek population ofCyprus, as well as over half of theTurkish Cypriot population, were displaced during theTurkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. The figures forinternally displaced Cypriots varies, the United Peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) estimates 165,000 Greek Cypriots and 45,000 Turkish Cypriots. TheUNHCR registers slightly higher figures of 200,000 and 65,000 respectively, being partly based on official Cypriot statistics which register children of displaced families as refugees.^[182] The separation of the two communities via the UN patrolled Green Line prohibited the return of all internally displaced people.

It is estimated that some 900,000 people, representing one-fifth of the pre-war population, were displaced from their homes during theLebanese Civil War.^[183]

Between 1984 and 1999, theTurkish Armed Forces and various groups claiming to represent theKurdish people haveengaged in open war, and much of the countryside in the southeast was depopulated, with Kurdish civilians moving to local defensible centers such asDiyarbakır,Van, andŞırnak, as well as to the cities of western Turkey and even to western Europe. The causes of the depopulation includedKurdistan Workers' Party atrocities against Kurdish clans they could not control, the poverty of the southeast, and the Turkish state's military operations.^[184]Human Rights Watch has documented many instances where the Turkish military forcibly evacuated villages, destroying houses and equipment to prevent the return of the inhabitants. An estimated 3,000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were virtually wiped from the map, representing the displacement of more than 378,000 people.^{[185][186][187][188]}

TheIran–Iraq War from 1980 to 1988, the 1990Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the firstGulf War and subsequent conflicts all generated hundreds of thousands if not millions of refugees. Iran also provided asylum for 1,400,000 Iraqi refugees who had been uprooted as a result of the1991 uprisings in Iraq (1990–91). At least one million IraqiKurds were displaced during theAnfal campaign (1986–1989).

TheIraq War has generated millions of refugees andinternally displaced persons. As of 2007 moreIraqis have lost their homes and become refugees than the population of any other country. Over 4,700,000 people, more than 16% of the Iraqi population, have become uprooted.^[189] Of these, about 2 million have fled Iraq and flooded other countries, and 2.7 million are estimated to be refugees inside Iraq, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.^{[190][191][192]} Only 1% of the total Iraqi displaced population was estimated to be in theWestern countries.^[193]

Roughly 40% of Iraq'smiddle class is believed to have fled, the U.N. said. Most are fleeing systematic persecution and have no desire to return. All kinds of people, from university professors to bakers, have been targeted bymilitias,insurgents and criminals. An estimated 331 school teachers were slain in the first four months of 2006, according toHuman Rights Watch, and at least 2,000 Iraqi doctors have been killed and 250 kidnapped since the2003 U.S. invasion.^[194] Iraqi refugees inSyria andJordan live in impoverished communities with little international attention to their plight and little legal protection.^{[citation needed]} In Syria alone an estimated 50,000 Iraqi girls and women, many of them widows, are forced intoprostitution just to survive.^[195][196]

According toWashington-basedRefugees International, out of the 4.2 million refugees fewer than 800 have been allowed into the US since the 2003 invasion. Sweden had accepted 18,000 and Australia had resettled almost 6,000.^[197] By 2006 Sweden had granted protection to more Iraqis than all the other EU Member States combined. However, and following repeated unanswered calls to its European partners for greater solidarity, July 2007 saw Sweden introduce a more restrictive policy towards Iraqi asylum seekers, which is expected to reduce the recognition rate in 2008.^[198]

As of September 2007Syria had decided to implement a strict visa regime to limit the number ofIraqis entering the country at up to 5,000 per day, cutting the only accessible escape route for thousands of refugees fleeing thecivil war in Iraq. A government decree that took effect on 10 September 2007 bars Iraqi passport holders from entering Syria except for businessmen and academics. Until then, Syria was the only country that had resisted strict entry regulations for Iraqis.^[199][200]

In June 2014, More than 500,000 people fledMosul to escape from the advancingIslamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).^[201]

Since 2007, the smallMandaean andYazidi communities have been at risk of elimination due toethnic cleansing by Islamic militants.^[202][203] Entire neighborhoods inBaghdad were ethnically cleansed byShia andSunni Militias.^[204][205] Satellite shows ethnic cleansing in Iraq was key factor in "surge" success.^[206]

Jordan has one of the world's largest immigrant populations^[when?] with some sources putting the immigrant percentage to being 60%.Iraqi refugees number between 750,000 and 1 million in Jordan with most living in Amman.^{[citation needed]} Jordan also has Armenian, Chechen, Circassian minorities, and about half of its population is said to be of Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

To escape the violence, nearly 4,088,078 Syrian refugees^[when?] have fled the country to neighboring Jordan,Lebanon,Turkey andIraq.^[207]

Since 2003, an estimated 70,000immigrants arrived illegally from various African countries into Israel.^[208] Some 600refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan have been granted temporary resident status that is to be renewed every year, although not official refugee status.^[209] Another 2,000 refugees from the conflict betweenEritrea andEthiopia have been granted temporary resident status on humanitarian grounds. Israel prefers not to recognize them as refugees so as not to offend Eritrea and Ethiopia. The Sudanese, who are from an enemy state, are also not recognized as refugees. In effect, Israeli politicians, including the current prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu, have referred to the refugees as a threat to Israel's "Jewish character".^[210] African refugees are sometimes subject to racism and racial riots, as well as physical assaults. These assaults have been occurring in Israel, especially in southernTel Aviv since mid-2012.^[211]

Over the past years, conflicts have occurred between Israelis and African immigrants in southernTel Aviv, mostly due to poverty issues on both sides. Locals accuse African immigrants of rape,^[212] Stealing^[213] and assault, making racial issues emerge in the southern part of Tel Aviv, which became an immigrant-populated area.^{[citation needed]}

In 2012,Reuters reported that Israel may jail "illegal immigrants" for up to three years under alaw put into effect to stem the flow of Africans across the desert border with Egypt.^[214] Netanyahu said in effect that, "If we don't stop their entry, the problem that currently stands at 60,000 could grow to 600,000, and that threatens our existence as a uniquely Jewish and democratic state."^[215]

Between the first and second world wars, hundreds of thousands of European Jews, mainly from Germany andAustria attempted to fleethe German government'santi-semitic policies which culminated in theHolocaust and the mass murder of millions of European Jews. These Jews were often found it difficult or impossible to immigrate to other European countries. The 1938Evian Conference, the 1943Bermuda Conference and other attempts failed to resolve the problem of Jewish refugees, a fact widely used inNazi propaganda.^[216]

Since its founding at the beginning of the 1900s Jewish immigration to theBritish Mandate for Palestine was encouraged by the nascentZionist movement, but immigration was restricted by theBritish government, under the pressure fromPalestinian Arabs. Following its formation in 1948, according to1947 UN Partition Plan, Israel adopted theLaw of Return, granting Israeli citizenship to any Jewish immigrant. Mass rioting and attacks on Jews throughout the Muslim World following the creation of the state of Israel led to theJewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries, in which 850,000 Jews fled to Israel between 1948 and the early 1970s.^[217][168]

According to theEuropean Council on Refugees and Exiles, a network of European refugee-assistingnon-governmental organizations (NGOs), huge differences exist between national asylum systems in Europe, making the asylum system a 'lottery' for refugees. For example, Iraqis who flee their home country and end up in Germany have an 85% chance of being recognised as a refugee and those who apply for asylum in Slovenia do not get a protection status at all.^[218]

In the United Kingdom theAsylum Support Partnership was created to enable all the agencies working to support and assistasylum seekers in making asylum claims was established in 2012 and is part funded by the home office.^[219]

In 2010, PresidentNicolas Sarkozy began the systematic dismantling of illegalRomani camps and squats in France, deporting thousands of Roma residing in France illegally toRomania,Bulgaria or elsewhere.^[220]

Since the 1980s Spain has transitioned from a country whose people emigrated to other countries to one of immigration. Immigrants coming into Spain are categorized and ranked by their country of origin according to Spanish immigration law. Depending on the individual's origin country they can receive "preferred" status over other immigrants who are given "outsider" status due to their country of origin, such asThird World countries.^[221] Spain has also added more steps to their asylum procedures, which some critics feel makes it too difficult for refugee and asylum seekers to enter and as such serves as a deterrence tool that violates Spain's international obligation to protect this group of people.^[222][223]

Since 2014 the number of refugees seeking asylum in Spain has increased greatly and Spain has received criticism for what has been perceived as a failure to keep up with these numbers. Spain has offered to provide asylum to 17,337 refugees by September 2017, however, only 744 of which were extended asylum status in the country by July 2017.^[224] In 2016 thePew Research Center found that from July 2015 to May 2016 there was an increase in percentage point of the refugee population in many European countries, however Spain was one of the few that experienced a decrease.^[225] The difficulty with refugees successfully immigrating to Spain has led to some researchers such asKitty Calavita to suggest that the country's marginalization and social and economic exclusion are primarily produced by law, rather than culture.^[221]

In 1956–57 following theHungarian Revolution of 1956 nearly 200,000 persons, about two percent of the population of Hungary, fled as refugees to Austria andWest Germany.^[226]

TheWarsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was followed by a wave of emigration, unseen before. It stopped shortly after (estimate: 70,000 immediately, 300,000 in total).^[227]

Following theGreek Civil War (1946–1949) hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Ethnic Macedonians were expelled or fled the country. The number of refugees ranged from 35,000 to over 213,000. Over 28,000 children were evacuated by the Partisans to theEastern Bloc and theSocialist Republic of Macedonia. This left thousands ofGreeks andAegean Macedonians spread across the world.

Theforced assimilation campaign of the late 1980s directed against ethnicTurks resulted in the emigration of some 300,000Bulgarian Turks to Turkey.

Beginning in 1991, political upheavals inSoutheastern Europe such as the breakup ofYugoslavia, displaced about 2,700,000 people by mid-1992, of which over 700,000 of them sought asylum inEuropean Union member states.^[228][229] In 1999, about one millionAlbanians escaped from Serbian persecution.

Today there are still thousands of refugees and internallydisplaced persons in Southeastern Europe who cannot return to their homes. Most of them areSerbs who cannot return toKosovo, and who still live in refugee camps in Serbia today. Over 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanian minorities fled or were expelled from Kosovo after theKosovo War in 1999.^[230][231]

In 2009, between 7% and 7.5% ofSerbia's population were refugees and IDPs. Around 500,000 refugees, mainly from Croatia andBosnia and Herzegovina, arrived following theYugoslav wars. The IDPs were primarily fromKosovo.^[232] As of 2007^[update], Serbia had the largest refugee population in Europe.^[233]

Since 1992, ongoing conflict has taken place in theNorth Caucasus region of Russia. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union,Chechnya broke away andbecame ade facto independent state. This move was not recognized by theRussian Federation, which invaded, leading to thefirst Chechen war. As a consequence, about 2 million people have been displaced and still cannot return to their homes. Due to widespread lawlessness and ethnic cleansing under the government ofDzhokhar Dudayev most non-Chechens (and manyChechens as well) fled the country during the 1990s or were killed.^[234][235]

The Syrian refugee crisis caused growth and puts a pressure on resources related to housing, jobs, healthcare, and education. Increased demand frequently puts tension on these systems, making it difficult for refugees and host communities to access and allocate resources.^[236] The social structure of host communities may be impacted by changes in population brought on by the refugee crisis. The policies and actions adopted by host nations in response to refugee influxes have an effect on internal dynamics and political stability. When these obstacles are addressed well, proactive policies and integration initiatives can result in long-term advantages like economic growth and a more diverse society.^[236]Turkey's migrant crisis is a period during 2010s characterized by high numbers of people arriving in Turkey.

Turkey has been greatly impacted by the Syrian Crisis and has become the country with one of the largest refugee populations in the world. In addition to taxing the nation's resources.^[237] A table in Statista demonstrates the largest Syrian refugee hosting countries in 2022 containing this information: Turkey hosting 3,535,898, Lebanon hosting 814,715, and Jordan hosting 660,892. (Statista, August 25, 2023).^[238] This refugee crisis has created social and economic problems. Reported by UNHCR in 2018, Turkey is hosting 63.4% of all the refugees (from Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan) in the world. As of 2019,Refugees of the Syrian civil war in Turkey (3.6 million) are highest "registered" refugees.

The European Union (EU) and Turkey have a complex and multifaceted relationship that spans a number of areas, including trade, immigration, political cooperation, and accession negotiations.^[239] A migration agreement between the EU and Turkey aims to control the flow of refugees and migrants into Europe. Under this agreement, Turkey will return illegal migrants to Greece in exchange for financial support, the easing of visa requirements for Turkish nationals, and the resumption of EU accession negotiations.^[239]

Turkey is also a "transit country" (gateway to Europe) part of a pattern of established duringEuropean migrant crisis from other continents when "major refugee flows" began in the mid-20th century.

The 1923population exchange between Greece and Turkey was stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed atLausanne,Switzerland, on 30 January 1923, by the governments ofGreece and the Republic ofTurkey. It involved approximately 2 million people (around 1.5 millionAnatolian Greeks and 500,000 Muslims in Greece), most of whom were forcibly made refugees andde juredenaturalized from their homelands.

By the end of 1922, the vast majority of nativeAsia Minor Greeks had already fled theGreek genocide (1914–1922) and Greece's later defeat in theGreco-Turkish War (1919–1922).^[240] According to some calculations, during the autumn of 1922, around 900,000 Greeks arrived in Greece.^[241] The population exchange was envisioned by Turkey as a way to formalize, and make permanent, the exodus of Greeks from Turkey, while initiating a new exodus of a smaller number of Muslims from Greece to supply settlers for occupying the newly depopulated regions of Turkey, while Greece saw it as a way to supply its masses of new propertyless Greek refugees from Turkey with lands to settle from the exchanged Muslims of Greece.^[242]

This major compulsorypopulation exchange, or agreed mutual expulsion, was based not on language or ethnicity, but upon religious identity, and involved nearly all theOrthodox Christian citizens of Turkey, including itsnative Turkish-speaking Orthodox citizens, and most of theMuslim citizens of Greece, including its nativeGreek-speaking Muslim citizens.^{[citation needed]}

TheNagorno-Karabakh conflict has resulted in the displacement of 528,000 Azerbaijanis (this figure does not include new born children of theseIDPs) from Armenian occupied territories including Nagorno Karabakh, and 220,000 Azeris and 18,000 Kurds fled fromArmenia to Azerbaijan from 1988 to 1989.^[243] 280,000 persons—virtually all ethnicArmenians—fledAzerbaijan during the 1988–1993 war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.^[244] By the time both Azerbaijan and Armenia had finally agreed to a ceasefire in 1994, an estimated 17,000 people had been killed, 50,000 had been injured, and over a million had been displaced.^[245]

More than 250,000 people, areGeorgians but some others too, were the victims of forcible displacement andethnic-cleansing fromAbkhazia during theWar in Abkhazia between 1992 and 1993, and afterwards in 1993 and 1998.^[246]

As a result of1991–1992 South Ossetia War, about 100,000 ethnicOssetians fled South Ossetia and Georgia proper, most across the border into Russian North Ossetia. A further 23,000 ethnicGeorgians fled South Ossetia and settled in other parts ofGeorgia.^[247]

The United Nations estimated^[when?] 100,000 Georgians have been uprooted as a result of the2008 South Ossetia war; some 30,000 residents ofSouth Ossetia fled into the neighboring Russian province ofNorth Ossetia.^[248]

According to the United Nations (UNHCR's European director Vincent Cochetel), by 2nd Sept 2014, 814,000 Ukrainians had fled to Russia in 8 months, including those who did not register as asylum seekers, and 260,000 left to other parts ofUkraine.^[249]However, also quoting UNHCR, Deutsche Welle says 197,000 Ukrainians fled to Russia by 20 August 2014 and not less than 190,000 have fled to other parts of Ukraine, 14,000 toBelarus and 14,000 to Poland.^[250][251] In Russia many were resettled in specially built refugee villages inSiberia. Russia also registered 2 million new citizens of Ukraine in October 2015, who had arrived since 1 January 2014.^{[citation needed]}

According to a United Nations early March 2016 report 1.6 million people were registered internally displaced by the Ukrainian government.^[252] 800,000 to 1 million of them lived within Ukrainian government controlled Ukraine.^[252]

An ongoingrefugee crisis began in Europe in late February 2022 afterRussia's invasion of Ukraine. Over 8.2 million refugees fleeing Ukraine have been recorded across Europe,^[253] while an estimated 8 million others had beendisplaced within the country by late May 2022.^[254]

it is estimated that around 167 countries across the world have fully or partially closed their borders during COVID-19 pandemic[1]. 57 states made no exception for people seekingasylum. Many countries are using the excuse of pandemic to reject refugees from entering the land and water borders. Countries such as Italy and Malta closed their ports for refugees. Most of the refugees reaching the European sea shores (up to 90%) depart from Libya where they escape acivil war in Libya[2]. Refugees that are forced to come back often face threats to their lives and freedom in their countries torn by wars[3]. Most countries in which refugees are displaced are countries of low or middle income, it puts more health and food challenges that refugees are facing in these countries with under-financed health care system and under-developed economies[4].The ongoing conflicts in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Yemen, Syria and Libya makes it very difficult to conduct large-scale regular testing for COVID-19 among the populations of these countries[5]. Lack ofsanitation, no access to health-care services, information, and lack of social distancing and the conditions in war-torn countries and refugee centers put a threat to lives of millions of people living in the war zones[6]

According to migration researcherHein de Haas, the notion of a global refugee crisis is unjustified because it is not supported by long-term data. In reality,refugees make up only a small portion of the world's population and an even smaller share of the total international migrant population. Since the 1950s, the number of refugees worldwide has remained stable between 0.1% and 0.35% of the global population, depending on the scale of conflicts at the time. This means that, although there are fluctuations in refugee numbers due to wars and other crises, these figures do not indicate a long-term or continuous increase.^[255]

The vast majority of refugees remain in their region of origin, often in neighboring countries. According toUNHCR data from 2017, around 80% of all refugees were hosted in neighboring countries and 85% indeveloping countries. For example, in 2018,Turkey hosted more than 3.6 millionSyrian refugees, whileLebanon accommodated nearly 1 million—over 15% of its population. By contrast, in the same year, only a few hundred thousand Syrians resided inEU countries such asGermany,France, and theUnited Kingdom.^[255]

Fears of widespread "false"asylum claims are likewise not supported by the data. The share of approvedasylum applications in the EU has remained relatively stable since the 1990s. In 2020, 54% of applications (including appeals) received a positive decision.Recognition rates are particularly high for applicants from conflict-affected countries such as Syria andEritrea.^[255]

Refugee flows are typically temporary and closely linked to the intensity of conflicts. Major migration waves occurred during theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan, theRwandan genocide, and more recently, the wars in Syria and Ukraine. Once violence subsides, refugee numbers tend to decline.^[255]

Although public discourse often portrays a world in crisis, the overall intensity of conflict andviolent repression has declined globally compared to earlier periods such as theFirst andSecond World Wars. While conflicts still occur, they tend to be less deadly, and overall global stability has improved. During the First and Second World Wars, an estimated 9.5 million and 60 million people, respectively, weredisplaced inEurope—figures far exceeding current refugee numbers. The widespread perception of an escalating refugee crisis is therefore partly based on a distorted view of the current global situation.^[255]

According to De Haas, the so-called global refugee crisis is largely a myth, amplified bypolitical rhetoric andmedia narratives. While there are undoubtedly challenges—particularly inborder regions — the overall number of refugees is relatively small and stable, with the real burden borne by countries neighboring conflict zones. The perception of an unmanageable refugee crisis in the West, he argues, is a political construct often used to justifystricter border controls and limitations onasylum rights. However, the actual data present a different picture—one in which refugee flows fluctuate in response to conflicts, and the impact on Western countries is much smaller than commonly suggested. Moreover, European countries proved capable of handling significantly larger numbers of refugees in thepost–World War II decades.^[255]

• Asylum shopping
• Human Flow
• List of largest refugee crises
• Penka Peykovska:War and Migration in Bulgaria from 1912 to 1926, 2017
• Refugee children
• Refugee
• Syrian refugee camps

• Aftermath of war
• Forced migration
• Refugees
• Right of asylum
• Migrant crises

• CS1 maint: publisher location
• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1: unfit URL
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from May 2025
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with dead external links from August 2025
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2018
• Articles needing additional references from August 2017
• All articles needing additional references
• Articles with excerpts
• Articles needing additional references from December 2009
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2018
• Articles with limited geographic scope from August 2017
• All articles with vague or ambiguous time
• Vague or ambiguous time from August 2017
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2018
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from June 2023
• Articles with unsourced statements from June 2012
• All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases
• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from August 2017
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2013
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2021
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2007
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016