List of largest refugee crises

Last updated

The list below includes data for refugee crises with at least 1 million refugees, not including internally displaced persons (IDP). For events for which estimates vary, the geometric mean of the lowest and highest estimates is calculated to rank the events.

Contents

Rows highlighted in blue indicate ongoing events.

EventRefugees estimateOriginFromUntilDurationRef.
World War II 60.0 million Europe 193919456 years [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Partition of India 10.0–20.0 million Indian subcontinent 194719481 year [7] [8]
World War I 7.0–15.0 million Europe 191419184 years [9] [10] [11]
Russian Invasion of Ukraine 9.2 million [note 1] Ukraine and Russia 2022Present2 years, 11 months [12] [13] [14] [15]
Bangladesh Liberation War 9.0 million Indian subcontinent 197119718 months [16]
Crisis in Venezuela 8.9 million Venezuela 2014Present10 years [17]
Syrian Civil War 6.7 million Syria 2011Present13 years [18]
Soviet–Afghan War 6.2 million Afghanistan 1978198911 years [19]
Yemeni Civil War 4.5 million Yemen 2015Present9 years [20]
Vietnam War 3.0 million Mainland Southeast Asia 1975200025 years [21]
War in Afghanistan 2.6–2.7 million Afghanistan 2001202120 years [22] [23]
Yugoslav Wars 2.4 million Yugoslavia 1991200110 years [24]
Korean War 1.0–5.0 million Korea 195019533 years [25] [26]
Iraq War 2.2 million Iraq 200320118 years [27]
War in Sudan 2.1 million Sudan 2023Present1 year, 10 months [28]
Rwandan Genocide 2.1 million Rwanda 199419962 years [29]
Iraqi Uprisings 1.8 million Iraq 199119918 months [21]
Wars in the Caucasus 1.5–2 million Caucasus 198819968 years [30] [31]
Mozambican Civil War 1.7 million Mozambique 1977199215 years [21]
Arab-Israeli Conflict 1.6 million (700,000 Palestinians est.
900,000 Jews est.)		 Palestine (region) 1947Present77 years [32] [33] [ circular reference ]
South Sudanese Civil War 1.5 million South Sudan 201120209 years [34]
Rohingya Genocide 1.3 million Myanmar 2016Present8 years [35]
Algerian War 1.0 million Algeria 195419628 years [21]
Irish Great Famine 1.0 million Ireland 184518494 years [36]
First Libyan Civil War 1.0 million Libya 201120118 months [37]
Somali Civil War 1.0 million Somalia 1991Present33 years [38]

Notes

  1. ↑ Includes 8.2 million Ukrainian refugees recorded in Europe (including countries partially in Europe); 0.2 million people fleeing Russia after the invasion but before the announcement of mobilization; 0.8 million people fleeing Russia after the beginning of Russian mobilization in September 2022. See also Russian emigration during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The State of The World's Refugees 2000: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action. Oxford University Press. 2000. p. 13. Archived from the original on 2022-04-23. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  2. ↑ Reporting on Migrants and Refugees: Handbook for Journalism Educators. France: UNESCO. 2021. p. 21. ISBN   978-92-3-100456-8. Archived from the original on 2022-06-07. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  3. ↑ Orchard, Phil (2014). A Right to Flee: Refugees, States, and the Construction of International Cooperation. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 3. ISBN   9781139923293.
  4. ↑ Frank, Matthew; Reinisch, Jessica (2017). Refugees in Europe, 1919–1959: A Forty Years' Crisis?. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 147, 153. ISBN   978-1-4742-9573-4. Archived from the original on 2022-05-03. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  5. ↑ Rothman, Lily; Ronk, Liz (2015-09-11). "This Is What Europe's Last Major Refugee Crisis Looked Like". Time. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  6. ↑ Gatrell, Peter (2017). "The Question of Refugees: Past and Present". Origins. Archived from the original on 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  7. ↑ "The State of The World's Refugees 2000" (PDF). UNHCR . 2000. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-01-08. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  8. ↑ Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar (2013). "India–Pakistan Partition 1947 and forced migration". The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. doi:10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm285. ISBN   9781444334890. Archived from the original on 2021-01-22. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  9. ↑ Gatrell, Peter; Zhvanko, Liubov (2017). Europe on the Move: Refugees in the Era of the Great War. United Kingdom: Manchester University Press. p. 3. ISBN   9781784994419.
  10. ↑ Gatrell, Peter (2008). "Refugees and Forced Migrants during the First World War". Immigrants & Minorities. 26 (1–2): 82–110. doi:10.1080/02619280802442613. S2CID   143755412. Archived from the original on 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2022-03-10– via Taylor & Francis Online.
  11. ↑ Chase, Gummer (2014). "World War I Centenary: Migration in Europe". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  12. ↑ "Individual refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe". UNHCR. 2023-04-18. Archived from the original on 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  13. ↑ "Forbes: about 700,000 people leave Russia since mobilisation started". Novaya Gazeta . 2022-10-04. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  14. ↑ "Hundreds of thousands flee Russia and Putin's 'two wars'". Al Jazeera. 18 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  15. ↑ "Blinken: Russia's war against Ukraine a 'strategic failure'". 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  16. ↑ Totten, Samuel; Bartrop, Paul Robert (2008). Dictionary of Genocide: A-L. ABC-CLIO. p. 34. ISBN   9780313346422. Archived from the original on 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  17. ↑ Osorio, Sonia (13 May 2023). "Casi 9 millones de venezolanos emigraron, pero mantienen fuerte vínculo con su país y la democracia". El Nuevo Herald (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  18. ↑ "Refugee Data Finder". UNHCR . November 10, 2021. Archived from the original on January 19, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  19. ↑ Rupert Colville (1997). "Refugees Magazine Issue 108 (Afghanistan : the unending crisis) - The biggest caseload in the world". UNHCR. Archived from the original on 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  20. ↑ "Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen". unrefugees.org. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  21. 1 2 3 4 State of the World's Refugees, 2000 Archived 2022-04-09 at the Wayback Machine United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
  22. ↑ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Afghanistan". UNHCR. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  23. ↑ "In numbers: Life in Afghanistan after America leaves". BBC News. 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  24. ↑ Watkins, Clem S. (2003). The Balkans. New York City: Nova Publishers. p. 10. ISBN   9781590335253.
  25. ↑ "The biggest refugee movements in history". MSN. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  26. ↑ "Population and Manpower of Korea 1954" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency . 13 September 1954. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 20, 2017.
  27. ↑ "UN agencies launch $85-million appeal to aid 2.2 million Iraqi refugees". UN News. September 18, 2007. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Sudan: Over a dozen more areas at risk of famine as fighting impedes aid". UN. 2024-08-11. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  29. ↑ Prunier 2009, pp. 24–25
  30. ↑ "UNHCR publication for CIS Conference (Displacement in the CIS) - Conflicts in the Caucasus". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 1 May 1996. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  31. ↑ Cohen, Roberta (10 June 2003). "Testimony of Roberta Cohen, Co-Director, The Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement, at the public hearing on "Internally Displaced Persons in the Caucasus Region and Southeastern Anatolia"" (PDF). Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe . Brookings Institution. p. 1. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  32. ↑ "UN agency for Palestinian refugees launches $95 million appeal to keep COVID at bay". UN News. September 4, 2020. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  33. ↑ "Jewish exodus from the Muslim world". Wikipedia. June 19, 2024. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
  34. ↑ "Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General". United Nations. 2017-02-10. Archived from the original on 2022-06-20. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  35. ↑ "WHO appeals for international community support; warns of grave health risks to Rohingya refugees in rainy season - Bangladesh". ReliefWeb. Archived from the original on 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  36. ↑ "Irelands' Population in the mid 1800s". Archived from the original on 2022-06-21. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  37. ↑ "2013 UNHCR country operations profile - Libya". UNCHR. 2013. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  38. ↑ "Registered Somali Refugee Population". UNHCR. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
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