24 June 2026: unhcr, asylum statistics, eu, euaa

UNHCR reports 129.4 million displaced and stateless people, down from 129.9

Of these 129.4 million forcibly displaced and stateless people,

• 28.5 million were refugees
• 64.2 million were internally displaced
• 9 million were asylum seekers

About 41% of the refugees are children.

"In 2025, 5.4 million people escaped violence and persecution by fleeing to other countries. But the report showed that returns are also gathering pace; 14.7 million displaced people returned to their areas or countries of origin in 2025 (4.4 million refugees and 10.3 million internally displaced people), with a sharp increase in Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria. Refugee returns were the second highest since records began 60 years ago, though many occurred under pressure and to precarious conditions at home.

Overall, the data showed that global refugee numbers declined in 2025 by 3 per cent to 41.6 million. In a positive development, nearly 46,000 stateless people acquired citizenship across 24 countries last year. [...]

The Global Trends report showed that more than 70 per cent of refugees and others in need of international protection originated from Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela. The largest hosts of refugees and other people in need of international protection in 2025 were: Colombia (2.8 million), Germany (2.7 million), Türkiye (2.4 million), Uganda (1.9 million), Islamic Republic of Iran (1.7 million), Chad (1.5 million) and Pakistan (1.3 million).

In total, data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre shows 68.6 million people were estimated as internally displaced due to conflict or violence as of end-2025, a 7 per cent decrease from end-2024; Sudan remained the largest crisis globally with 9.1 million displaced within the country. The war in the Middle East, which began in February 2026, with an estimated 1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Lebanon by mid-May 2026 and 3.2 million people temporarily displaced in the Islamic Republic of Iran as of the end of March 2026.

An estimated 4.5 million stateless people were reported globally at end-2025, 3 per cent more than a year earlier." (from the press release)

The report can be accessed at the following link:

UNHCR: Global Trends. Forced Displacement in 2025, 11 June 2026
https://www.unhcr.org/media/global-report-2025

For numbers on asylum decisions in the European Union in 2025, see the following EUROSTAT publication:

"In 2025, EU countries granted protection status to 361 325 asylum seekers, down 17.5% compared with 2024 (437 735).

Among persons granted protection status in the EU in 2025, 51.0% received refugee status, 25.3% humanitarian status, and 23.7% subsidiary protection.

Afghans, Venezuelans, Syrians and Ukrainians were the main beneficiaries of protection status in the EU in 2025. [...]

In 2025, Afghans received the largest number of protection statuses in the EU (27.2% of all persons granted protection status in the EU, 98 175 persons) [...]. They were followed by Venezuelans (16.4%, 59 285), Syrians (4.8%, 17 420), Ukrainians (4.7%, 17 140), Somalis (3.8%, 13 665), Malians (3.4%, 12 455), Turks (3.0%, 10 920), Haitians (2.8%, 10 000) and Eritreans (2.7%, 9 680)." (EUROSTAT: Asylum decisions - annual statistics, last edited on 17 April 2026)

The EUAA released its Asylum Report 2026:

https://www.euaa.europa.eu/international-protection-europe-year-review-2025