This is a list of largest refugee crises .
The list below includes the number of refugees per event with at least 1 million individuals included. This list does not include 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.
Rows highlighted in blue indicate a present event that is occurring.
Event | Refugees estimate | Origin | From | Until | Duration | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
World War II | 60.0 million | Europe | 1939 | 1945 | 6 years | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] |
Partition of India | 10.0–20.0 million | Indian subcontinent | 1947 | 1948 | 1 year | [7] [8] |
World War I | 7.0–15.0 million | Europe | 1914 | 1918 | 4 years | [9] [10] [11] |
Russian Invasion of Ukraine | 9.2 million [note 1] | Ukraine and Russia | 2022 | Present | 2 years, 7 months | [12] [13] [14] [15] |
Bangladesh Liberation War | 9.0 million | Indian subcontinent | 1971 | 1971 | 8 months | [16] |
Crisis in Venezuela | 8.9 million | Venezuela | 2014 | Present | 10 years | [17] |
Syrian Civil War | 6.7 million | Syria | 2011 | Present | 13 years | [18] |
Soviet–Afghan War | 6.2 million | Afghanistan | 1978 | 1989 | 11 years | [19] |
Israeli–Palestinian Conflict | 700,000 Palestinians est. (5.6 million including descendants) 900,000 Jews est. | Palestine (region) | 1947 | Present | 77 years | [20] [21] |
Yemeni Civil War | 4.5 million | Yemen | 2015 | Present | 9 years | [22] |
Vietnam War | 3.0 million | Mainland Southeast Asia | 1975 | 2000 | 25 years | [23] |
War in Afghanistan | 2.6–2.7 million | Afghanistan | 2001 | 2021 | 20 years | [24] [25] |
Yugoslav Wars | 2.4 million | Yugoslavia | 1991 | 2001 | 10 years | [26] |
Korean War | 1.0–5.0 million | Korea | 1950 | 1953 | 3 years | [27] [28] |
Iraq War | 2.2 million | Iraq | 2003 | 2012 | 9 years | [29] |
War in Sudan | 2.1 million | Sudan | 2023 | Present | 1 year, 6 months | [30] |
Rwandan Genocide | 2.1 million | Rwanda | 1994 | 1996 | 2 years | [31] |
Iraqi Uprisings | 1.8 million | Iraq | 1991 | 1991 | 8 months | [23] |
Mozambican Civil War | 1.7 million | Mozambique | 1977 | 1992 | 15 years | [23] |
South Sudanese Civil War | 1.5 million | South Sudan | 2011 | 2020 | 9 years | [32] |
Rohingya Genocide | 1.3 million | Myanmar | 2016 | Present | 8 years | [33] |
Algerian War | 1.0 million | Algeria | 1954 | 1962 | 8 years | [23] |
Irish Great Famine | 1.0 million | Ireland | 1845 | 1849 | 4 years | [34] |
First Libyan Civil War | 1.0 million | Libya | 2011 | 2011 | 8 months | [35] |
Somali Civil War | 1.0 million | Somalia | 1991 | Present | 33 years | [36] |
Demographic features of the population of Romania include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.
An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee.
Forced displacement is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations".
Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee from their country as a result the continuous wars that the country has suffered since the Afghan-Soviet war, the Afghan civil war, the Afghanistan war (2001–2021) or either political or religious persecution. The 1978 Saur Revolution, followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion, marked the first major wave of internal displacement and international migration to neighboring Iran and Pakistan; smaller numbers also went to India or to countries of the former Soviet Union. Between 1979 and 1992, more than 20% of Afghanistan's population fled the country as refugees. Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, many returned to Afghanistan, however many Afghans were again forced to flee during the civil war in the 90s. Over 6 million Afghan refugees were residing in Iran and Pakistan by 2000. Most refugees returned to Afghanistan following the 2001 United States invasion and overthrow of the Taliban regime. Between 2002 and 2012, 5.7 million refugees returned to Afghanistan, increasing the country's population by 25%.
The Sahrawi refugee camps, also known as the Tindouf camps, are a collection of refugee camps set up in the Tindouf Province, Algeria in 1975–76 for Sahrawi refugees fleeing from Moroccan forces, who advanced through Western Sahara during the Western Sahara War. With most of the original refugees still living in the camps, the situation is among the most protracted in the world.
The Iraqi diaspora refers to native Iraqis who have left for other countries as emigrants or refugees, and is now one of the largest in modern times, being described by the UN as a "humanitarian crisis" caused by the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 invasion of Iraq and by the ensuing war.
Afghan diaspora refers to the Afghan people that reside and work outside of Afghanistan. They include natives and citizens of Afghanistan who have immigrated to other countries. The majority of the diaspora has been formed by Afghan refugees since the start of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979; the largest numbers temporarily reside in Iran. As stateless refugees or asylum seekers, they are protected by the well-established non-refoulement principle and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The ones having at least one American parent are further protected by United States laws.
The demographics of Poland constitute all demographic features of the population of Poland including population density, ethnicity, education level, the health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.
Humanitarian aid during the Syrian civil war has been provided by various international bodies, organizations and states. The main effort is coordinated by Jonh Ging of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). In 2014, U.N. Security Council Resolution 2165 authorised humanitarian aid to be supplied via four border crossings not controlled by the Syrian government, generally to supply rebel-controlled territory.
Ellison Litton Barber is an American journalist and correspondent for NBC News. She frequently reports from conflict zones and contributes reporting to all NBC News platforms, including NBC News, MSNBC and NBC News Now.
Syrians in Lebanon refers to the Syrian migrant workers and, more recently, to the Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon during the Syrian Civil War. The relationship between Lebanon and Syria includes Maronite-requested aid during Lebanon's Civil War which led to a 29-year occupation of Lebanon by Syria ending in 2005. Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, refugees began entering Lebanon in 2011.
Refugees in Romania have arrived in multiple waves throughout Romania's history. Historical waves of refugees include the Armenians who fled the Ottoman Empire due to the Armenian genocide in 1915, Greeks who fled persecution after the Greek Civil War and during the Greek military junta of 1967–74, Koreans who fled the Korean War and Chileans fleeing the Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90).
A refugee crisis can refer to difficulties and dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of forcibly displaced persons. These could be either internally displaced, refugees, asylum seekers or any other huge groups of migrants.
Refugees in Poland were, until 2022, a relatively small group. Since 1989, the number of people applying for refugee status in Poland has risen from about 1,000 to 10,000 each year; about 1–2% of the applications were approved. The majority of applications were citizens of the former Soviet Union.
The Turkish migrant crisis, sometimes referred to as the Turkish refugee crisis, was a period during the 2010s characterised by a high number of people migrating to Turkey. Turkey received the highest number of registered refugees of any country or territory each year from 2014 to 2019, and had the world's largest refugee population according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The majority were refugees of the Syrian Civil War, numbering 3.6 million as of June 2020. In 2018, the UNHCR reported that Turkey hosted 63.4% of all "registered Syrian refugees."
A global energy crisis began in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, with much of the globe facing shortages and increased prices in oil, gas and electricity markets. The crisis was caused by a variety of economic factors, including the rapid post-pandemic economic rebound that outpaced energy supply, and escalated into a widespread global energy crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The price of natural gas reached record highs, and as a result, so did electricity in some markets. Oil prices hit their highest level since 2008.
An ongoing refugee crisis began in Europe in late February 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Over 6 million refugees fleeing Ukraine are recorded across Europe, while an estimated 8 million others had been displaced within the country by late May 2022. Approximately one-quarter of the country's total population had left their homes in Ukraine by 20 March. 90% of Ukrainian refugees are women and children, while most Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are banned from leaving the country. By 24 March, more than half of all children in Ukraine had left their homes, of whom a quarter had left the country. The invasion caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II and its aftermath, is the first of its kind in Europe since the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s, as well as the fourth largest refugee crisis in history, and is the largest refugee crisis of the 21st century, with the highest refugee flight rate globally.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in late February 2022, more than 300,000 Russian citizens and residents are estimated to have left Russia by mid-March 2022, at least 500,000 by the end of August 2022, and an additional 400,000 by early October, for a total of approximately 900,000. This number includes economic migrants, conscientious objectors, and some political refugees.
Filtration camps, also referred to as concentration camps, are camps used by Russian forces during the Russian invasion of Ukraine to register, interrogate, and detain Ukrainian citizens in regions under Russian occupation before transferring them into Russia, sometimes as part of forced population transfers. Filtration camp detainees undergo a system of security checks and personal data collection. Detainees are subject to widespread torture, killings, rape, starvation and other grave human rights violations.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has had a broad range of humanitarian impacts, both in Ukraine and internationally. These include the Ukrainian refugee crisis, the disruption of global food supplies, death and suffering of civilian population, widespread conscription in both Russia and Ukraine, severe effects on Ukrainian society and emigration of Russian population.