8 Countries That Produce the Most Refugees in the World

What are the top refugee producing countries in the world? With the refugee crisis currently wreaking havoc around the globe, it is extremely important to be aware of the origins of these unfortunate people, which is exactly why we have decided to compile for you a list of the 8 countries that produce the most refugees in the world.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, 65.3 million people were classified as forcibly displaced people at the end of 2015. Out of this huge number, 21.3 million people have been forced to flee from their respective homelands in the hope of seeking shelter in foreign countries and hence, are refugees. The situation that refugees are facing is heart-wrenching, to say the least. Not only do they face enormous obstacles while struggling to gain admission into any country who would house them, but are also at the risk of starving to death, being abducted or being victims of violent crimes on their way to another country.

One would assume that once the dislodged person reaches the desired sanctuary, he or she would be free from the issues chasing them since they left their beloved country. This assumption is quite far from the truth. It’s a massive challenge for these asylum seekers to be able to obtain employment, procure housing arrangements and raise their children in a completely new environment, where they are unable to speak the language or blend into the rest of the citizens. Even with the most hospitable neighbors, refugees are often treated as outcasts, multiplying their frustrations and demoralizing them in their efforts to get on with a normal life.

Although most of us consider it our duty towards humanity to be able to assist these refugees in some way or the other, we tend to trivialize their problems without intending to, because within our comfy homes and warm beds, perhaps we cannot completely comprehend the challenges they face. Even so, many individuals and organizations are striving to raise awareness of the innumerable problems hindering the refugee population. Humans of New York, for instance, used its popularity as a blog to help this cause, sharing extremely touching stories of refugees traveling through Europe.

A few of them have been reported by the Huffington Post, while the entire series can easily be found on the blogger’s Facebook page. Similarly, the BBC created this amazingly creative yet absorbing video showing a refugee’s journey through a mobile phone. In this world of technology (the development of which is quite clear if you read this article on the 8 Countries that Produce the Most Robots in the World), it is only apt to show how this essential gadget would play a role in the most dangerous time of a refugee’s life. Furthermore, many reputable organizations promoting human rights have donation pages dedicated solely to refugees, like this page by UNHCR or this by Amnesty International.

It is true that the refugee crisis can never be fully eliminated what with conflicts constantly cropping up in various parts of the world, but the most distressing aspect is that the number of refugees keeps increasing every year. So what exactly is the cause of these worsening circumstances? Well, firstly, wars are taking place more frequently now. That is not the worst of it, though. The fact that these conflicts are more long lasting these days is really the crux of the situation. According to the UNHCR, in 2015, 24 people had to flee their homes every sixty seconds, while the corresponding number was 6 somewhere around 2005. Seeing the situation presented so concisely really emphasizes the severity of the situation and might encourage people to help those in desperate need.

Now that we know the sheer number of refugees currently seeking asylum in this world, let’s take a look at the 8 countries that produce the most refugees in the world, a list we formulated with the help of the Global Trends Report issued by the UNHCR on forced displacement in 2015.

8. The Central African Republic

Number of refugees: 471,100

The Central African Republic ranks 8th in our list of the countries that produce the most refugees in the world. It’s appalling and quite saddening that an African country suffering from a violent civil war does not grab the attention of anyone anymore, because the truth is, it does not sound like anything unusual. Various African countries are in the midst of turmoil, and the Central African Republic is certainly not an exception. Although it has been unstable since it gained independence from France in 1960, the real trouble started in December 2012 when conflicts between the Muslim rebel group called Seleka and the government of the nation heated up. Seleka managed to overthrow the government and declare its leadership over the country, but not soon after, a militia called Anti-balaka, comprising mostly of Christians, surfaced. The president of the country representing the rebels resigned, but the fighting continued, and as a result, the Muslims were persecuted by the hands of the Christians. Like many other conflicts, this has now just bubbled down to a fight between Muslims and Christians, with civilians suffering and being forced to flee their own country.

7. The Democratic Republic of the Congo

Number of refugees: 541,500

Congo ranks 7th in our list of countries that produce the most refugees in the world. The civil wars that have plagued the Democratic Republic of the Congo for years have left it ranking 176 out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index. The wars, coupled with malnutrition, have taken approximately six million lives. Considering that this nation has been blessed with abundant natural resources, it is especially distressing to know that its citizens are dying from lack of food. Most of the refugees from this country flee to Uganda, and many have made homes there.

6. Sudan

Number of refugees: 628,800

Sudan ranks 6th in our list of the countries that produce the most refugees in the world. The number of refugees in Sudan at the end of 2015 has actually decreased as compared to 2014, from 665,900 to 628,800, but the situation does not seem very promising. Since Sudan is spread over a large area, most displaced people do not make it over the border and are therefore clubbed in the counting of internally displaced people. The country of Chad is the most major host of the people who do end up successfully fleeing their country and hosts about 300,000 of them.

5. South Sudan

Number of refugees: 778,700

South Sudan ranks 5th in our list of the countries that produce the most refugees in the world. In July 2016, the problems in South Sudan escalated so much that citizens were forced to the point of absolute starvation and had nothing to survive on except goat bones and water lilies. This situation, which can be named nothing but an extreme humanitarian crisis, has brought another wave of refugees from South Sudan into neighboring countries. Some sources have estimated that the number of refugees may well have touched a million now as opposed to the 778,700 refugees at the end of 2015. We will have to wait for the next UNHCR report to be able to confirm the exact figure but there is no doubt about the fact that South Sudan will hold its spot among countries that produce the most refugees for years to come.

4. Somalia

Number of refugees: 1.12 million

Somalia ranks 4th in our list of the top refugee producing countries in the world. Somali people first began to flee their country in 1991 when civil wars and instability resulted from a fall in the government. The refugees have continued to increase every year since then. 2011 was especially significant in this respect as it saw a major spike in numbers due to severe famines in addition to the insecurity. Since the country’s situation is refusing to resolve itself, the refugees who left their country years ago are now raising their third generations in exile. While this hair-raising predicament seems to be a never-ending one, Kenya and Ethiopia have played a tremendous role in hosting these refugees, with each of them housing 417,900 and 256,700 Somalis respectively.

3. Afghanistan

Number of refugees: 2.7 million

Afghanistan ranks third on our list of the countries that produce the most refugees in the world. The apparently never-ending crisis in Afghanistan has caused 2.7 million people to move abroad. Approximately 2.5 million of these refugees have now found peace, or as much peace as is possible for them, in the nations of Pakistan and Iran. The entire refugee population in Pakistan, a country which is number 2 in the world for hosting refugees, comprises of only Afghans. Not only that, but there are suspected to be around 1 million additional Afghan refugees in Pakistan who remain undocumented.

2. Syria

Number of refugees: 4.9 million

Syria ranks second in our list of countries that produce the most refugees in the world. It is the second biggest refugee producing country in the world. Anyone who doesn’t live under a rock is, at least to a certain degree, aware of the civil war that has been causing utter mayhem in Syria since 2011. The most recent manifestation of this war has been seen in the city of Aleppo, where a ‘genocide’, as this activist describes it, has stolen the lives of many.

Syria, together with Afghanistan and Somalia, accounts for 54% of the world refugees that are under the UNHCR mandate. The 4.9 million refugees that originate from the Syrian Arab Republic are dispersed over a total of 120 countries, but the major hosts of the nation’s displaced people are in fact its neighboring countries: Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt. That is not to say that the rest of the world is ignorant to the misery of Syria as Germany and Sweden have also provided sanctuary to about 167,000 of these homeless people.

1. Palestine

Number of refugees: 5.2 million

UNHCR does not declare Palestine as the top source of refugees in its report because Palestinian refugees are not registered under its mandate. They are separately governed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The UNHCR does, however, include the figure of 5.2 million in its total estimate of 21.3 million refugees worldwide and acknowledges that this amount of people are registered by UNRWA. Therefore, we have placed Palestine in number one on our list of 8 countries that produce the most refugees in the world.

Refugees have been originating from Palestine ever since the 1948 Palestine war took place after the UN proposed to partition the land known as the British Mandate of Palestine. At that time, a little over 800,000 people were recognized as refugees but since conflicts in the country have still not been resolved, the number of displaced people have continued to increase exponentially resulting in the huge number we see today.