Child displacement

This number includes some 17.5 million child refugees and asylum seekers (14.2 million refugees under UNHCR mandate and other children in need of international protection[1], 1.8 million Palestine children registered as refugees with UNRWA[2]) and around 1.5 million asylum-seeking children) and an estimated 25.8 million children displaced within their own country by violence and conflict. On top of those numbers come another 3.8 million more children living in internal displacement as consequence of natural disasters.

Between 2010 and 2022, the global number of forcibly displaced child refugees and asylum seekers more than doubled from around 20.6 million to the current number of 43.3 million. By comparison, during the same period the total number of non-refugee child migrants rose by only 10 per cent. According to UNHCR, over 1.9 million children were born as refugees from 2018 to 2022.

Children are dramatically over-represented among the world’s refugees. Children make up less than one third of the global population, but more than 41 per cent among the world’s refugees in 2022. Among the international migrants (or foreign born population), in 2020, nearly 1 in 3 children were refugees; for adults, the proportion was less than 1 in 20.

Footnotes

[1] The category “Other people in need of international protection” (OIP) refers to “people who are outside their country or territory of origin, typically because they have been forcibly displaced across international borders, who have not been reported under other categories (asylum-seekers, refugees, people in refugee-like situations) but who likely need international protection, including protection against forced return, as well as access to basic services on a temporary or longer-term basis” (Source: UNHCR 2023, Global Trends 2022 (p. 4).

[2] In total, 5.9 million Palestine refugees are registered in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank) with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). These refugees are outside of the mandate of UNHCR.

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Nearly one third of children living outside their country of birth are refugees

Share of refugees among all international child migrants (2005-2020)

The age distribution of refugees is markedly different from that of international migrants — the refugee population is much younger than the overall immigrant population. While a clear majority of the world’s migrants are adults, children are roughly half of all refugees. Children’s large share in the refugee population is further evidence of the fact that children continue to bear the burden of decisions and disasters far beyond their control.

The refugee population is much younger than the overall migrant population

Where the world’s refugees come from

While planned and voluntary journeys can offer new opportunities to the children and families that undertake them, forced migration often intensifies the vulnerability of children who are already in precarious situations. Violence and conflict are the hallmarks of too many childhoods and are a common denominator in nearly all the countries of origin for large numbers of child refugees. In 2022, just three countries – Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan– accounted for more than half of all child refugees in the world; nearly three-quarters of all child refugees and OIP come from only five countries, Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan Venezuela and Myanmar.

Just two countries account for nearly half of all child refugees in the world

Where the world’s refugees live

Refugees often found asylum close to their country of origin. Worldwide, 70 per cent of all refugees find asylum in a directly bordering country. Türkiye hosts by far the largest total number of refugees. In 2022, one in ten refugees under UNHCR mandate lived in Turkey, most of them having arrived from Syria – making it the largest single host country of child refugees in the world.

9 out of the 10 largest hosts of the global refugee population are in Asia and Africa

Compared to the national population of the host country, Lebanon hosts, by a overwhelming margin, the largest number of refugees relative to their population (151 out of 1,000 people) followed by Jordan (62 out of 1,000) and Montenegro (52 out of 1,000). Today, nearly one in seven people in Lebanon is a refugee. By comparison, the same ratio for the United Kingdom is 1 in 206; for the United States, it is 1 in 934. When the over half a million Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are added to this total, Lebanon’s contributions to global refugee responsibility-sharing are even more pronounced.

Considering also the group of “other people in need of international protection” a number of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean show high proportions, mostly as consequence of the large number of Venezuelans fleeing their country over the last many years; in particular Aruba (160 per 1,000) but also Curaçao (73 per 1,000) and Colombia (47 per 1,000).

Lebanon and Jordan host by far the largest number of refugees relative to their population

When considering refugee-host countries by income level (number of refugees per 1 USD GNI per capita), Sudan, Uganda, and Pakistan host the highest concentration of refugees relative to their resources. By this same measure, the first 30 countries hosting the largest number of refugees relative to their resources are all in Africa and Asia.

Internally displaced persons

Even when children do not cross their national borders in search of safety, they can face tremendous danger while seeking security within their own country. Notably, nearly all people who eventually become refugees begin their journeys with internal displacement.

By the end of 2022 some 62.5 million people were living in displacement due to violence and conflict within their own countries -many of them since years. During 2022 alone, over 28.3 million new displacements due to conflict were recorded. In the same year, disasters including earthquakes, tsunamis, and flooding led to another 32.6 million internal displacements.

Like in many areas of data related to migration and displacement, most information about internal displacements is not broken down by age, making it difficult to provide a reliable estimate about the number of children included within these larger totals. Assuming that the proportion of children among the internally displaced population is the same as the proportion of children in the national population, an estimated 25.8 million children were displaced within their own countries by violence and conflict at the end of 2022, representing 41% of the IDP population. This means conflict displaces even more children within their own borders than beyond them. If children are over-represented in internal displacement the same way they are among refugees, then their total would be even higher. Most of these displaced children lived in sub-Saharan Africa. The Middle East, Afghanistan and Ukraine are other hot spots for conflict related internal displacement.

An additional 3.8 million children were displaced as consequence of natural disasters.

Largest internally displaced child populations by country, 2022

Conflict resulted in 25.8 million children living in displacement within their own country at the end of 2022

While conflict and violence is the leading cause for prolonged displacements most new displacements are the consequence of natural disasters. An estimated 20.8 million new displacements of children occurred in 2022 globally: Conflict and violence resulted in 8.5 million new displacements of children, and over 12.2 million were the consequence of natural disasters (mostly floods and storms). The majority of conflict-related new displacement occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, while the bulk of new displacements due to disasters happened in Southern and South-Eastern Asia.

In 2022 alone, there were an estimated 20.8 million new displacements of children globally

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