Nearly 118 million people were displaced by conflict, persecution last year, UN says

The U.N. refugee agency reports that forced displacement due to conflict or persecution fell in 2025 for the first time in a decade

The U.N. refugee agency said forced displacement of people due to conflict or persecution fell in 2025 for the first time in a decade. But the agency warned in its annual report Thursday that 118 million people who had to flee their homes or nations is still alarmingly high.

A look at the agency's Global Trends Report on refugees and displaced people, by the numbers:

The total number of people forcibly displaced by conflict, violence or persecution at the end of 2025 was 117.8 million. The figure includes refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced and other groups in need of international protection. It's the first time in a decade the statistic fell. Behind the decline is both an increase in people who returned home and the fact that many refugees acquired citizenship of their host countries, among other reasons, said Tarek Abou Chabake, the U.N. agency's chief statistician. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees warned the number of those displaced globally, mostly by conflict, was unacceptably high.

Percentage of children among 41.6 million refugees last year. While Colombia, Germany and Turkey hosted more than 2 million refugees each, the majority live in low- to middle-income countries. Despite a 3% fall from the previous year, 5.4 million people crossed an international border in 2025 seeking refuge.

Seven out of 10 refugees have lived in exile for five years or more, often trapped in sprawling camps in poor nations. “Humanitarian assistance has saved lives,” High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih said, adding that "it was never intended to sustain generations of people indefinitely." The agency aims to slash by half the number of refugees in protracted displacement who are dependent on humanitarian assistance by 2035.

There were 68.7 million people displaced within their countries last year. The ongoing war in Sudan was behind the largest displacement in the world with 9.1 million people forced to flee their homes. Colombia, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan also have large displaced populations.

Projections for 2026 did not look much better. With the Iran war erupting in February, 3.2 million people had been displaced by March inside Iran, and by mid-May, 1 million were displaced inside Lebanon. “This is truly unacceptable and we must make sure this doesn't become a new normal,” Salih said.

Three countries — Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan — saw 90% of the 4.4 million refugee return home in 2025. The number