Global forced displacement falls to 117.8 million in 2025, first decline in a decade, UNHCR reports

The global population of forcibly displaced people declined in 2025 for the first time in ten years, according to the UNHCR's annual Global Trends report released on 11 June 2026. The total fell to 117.8 million, down from 123.2 million at the end of 2024.

What drove the decline

The 5.4 million drop was propelled by a sharp rise in returns of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in several of the world's largest displacement crises. The UNHCR cited Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Syria as the primary drivers. Overall, more than 14.7 million people returned during 2025, with 92 percent of those returns concentrated in just six countries.

Many of these returns did not take place in conditions of safety and stability, but under various forms of pressure, to countries where insecurity persists, where infrastructure has been damaged and where access to basic services and economic opportunities remains very limited.

New displacement continued

Despite the overall decline, nearly 5.4 million people were newly forced to flee their countries in 2025, most often to neighbouring states. Eight countries accounted for almost six in ten cross-border displacements: Sudan (952,700), Ukraine (788,100), Venezuela (455,300), South Sudan (232,800), Burkina Faso (221,300), Afghanistan (191,400), Mali (177,200), and Myanmar (165,400).

Asylum systems under strain

The number of new individual asylum applications outstripped the number of decisions rendered, swelling the backlog of people awaiting a ruling by 645,300 to nearly 9 million worldwide.

Asylum seekers must have access to fair and efficient procedures to examine their protection claims. People fleeing conflict, persecution and violence must have effective pathways to seek refuge.

Statelessness and internal displacement

An estimated 4.5 million people were stateless at the end of 2025, a 3 percent increase from a year earlier. Internally displaced people made up 58 percent of the total displaced population. The UNHCR stressed that roughly one in every 70 people worldwide had been forced from their home by the close of 2025.

Return hotspots

Returns were overwhelmingly concentrated in six nations: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.6 million), Sudan (3.6 million), Syria (3.3 million), Afghanistan (2 million), Ukraine (718,300), and Myanmar (415,200). The agency cautioned that the headline decline masks a persistent crisis where returns often happen under duress rather than into rebuilt, secure environments.