Data for 1991

Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, 1991

Name: Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, 1991
Creator: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
License: https://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do/data-and-publications/data-and-statistics/terms-use-datasets

Figures for 1991, as UNHCR published them · stored as published, never rewritten

Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, 1991 covers 116 countries. Iran is highest, at 4,404,995; 2 countries share the lowest reading, 5. The middle country reads 11,876. Against 1990, 104 values changed (55 up, 49 down), 9 countries joined, 4 left.

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Refugee Population by Country of Asylum · Data for 1991

HighestIran

4,404,995

Lowest2 countries share it

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end.

116countries
1measure
1991the year it describes
114distinct valueswhole numbers, as published
Sep 26, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, 1991, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 116 countries · select a heading to sort

Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, 1991: every country, as published by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	4,404,995
Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	3,099,891
Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	981,812
Germany`DEU`Western Europe	821,500
Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	729,200
Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	547,961
Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	529,620
United States`USA`Northern America	513,885
DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	482,959
Mexico`MEX`Central America	360,170
China`CHN`Eastern Asia	289,061
Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	288,103
Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	270,136
Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	230,290
Guatemala`GTM`Central America	223,236
India`IND`Southern Asia	210,569
Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	197,627
France`FRA`Western Europe	174,756
Canada`CAN`Northern America	170,916
Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	169,124
Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	162,521
Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	140,676
Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	124,457
Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	120,163
Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	117,492
Honduras`HND`Central America	101,961
Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	96,144
Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	88,164
Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	87,990
Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	73,838
Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	71,908
Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	53,117
Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	49,569
Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	45,622
Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	45,590
Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	45,237
United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	43,368
Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	40,260
Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	36,100
Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	35,200
Austria`AUT`Western Europe	34,508
Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	34,004
Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	33,261
Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	30,462
Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	29,977
Belize`BLZ`Central America	29,969
Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	29,054
Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	28,319
Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	28,036
Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	24,071
Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	20,148
El Salvador`SLV`Central America	20,099
Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	19,020
New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	16,760
Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	14,933
Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	13,947
Mali`MLI`Western Africa	13,120
Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	12,223
Argentina`ARG`South America	11,529
Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	11,022
Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	9,796
Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	8,989
Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	8,972
Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	8,128
Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	6,397
Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	6,098
Brazil`BRA`South America	5,389
Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	5,223
Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	4,631
Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	4,561
Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	4,414
Syria`SYR`Western Asia	4,210
Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	4,005
Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	3,573
Togo`TGO`Western Africa	3,406
Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	3,395
Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	3,157
Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	2,245
Venezuela`VEN`South America	1,720
Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	1,571
Niger`NER`Western Africa	1,385
Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	1,054
Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	998
Panama`PAN`Central America	914
Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	692
Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	691
Peru`PER`South America	683
Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	651
Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	550
Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	517
Benin`BEN`Western Africa	456
Colombia`COL`South America	450
Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	440
Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	420
Bolivia`BOL`South America	341
Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	322
Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	320
Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	300
Ecuador`ECU`South America	280
Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	240
Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	220
Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	220
Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	166
South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	162
Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	141
Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	136
Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	130
Macau`MAC`Eastern Asia	116
Uruguay`URY`South America	81
Chile`CHL`South America	72
Paraguay`PRY`South America	66
Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	61
Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	38
Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	15
Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	5
Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	5

02In 1991

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

Iran4,404,995
Pakistan3,099,891
Malawi981,812
Germany821,500
Sudan729,200

Lowest

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 11,876. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031990 → 1991

Since 1990

What changed between 1990 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+9 / −4countries joined / left
104values changed, of 107 in both
55 · 49rose · fell
3unchanged

Rose most

Iran4,174,401 → 4,404,995+230,594
Guinea325,000 → 547,961+222,961
Kenya14,249 → 120,163+105,914
Iraq900 → 87,990+87,090
DR Congo416,435 → 482,959+66,524

Fell most

Sudan1,031,050 → 729,200−301,850
Ethiopia773,764 → 529,620−244,144
Costa Rica276,210 → 117,492−158,718
Pakistan3,255,975 → 3,099,891−156,084
Honduras237,100 → 101,961−135,139

+ Cabo Verde

+ Czechia

+ Jamaica

+ Kuwait

+ Sri Lanka

+ Namibia

+ Poland

+ Romania

+ Saudi Arabia

− Bahrain

− Comoros

− Cuba

− Somalia

Changes in value, not in places: a country’s place also moves when others do. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

114 distinct values among 116
Values are stored exactly as published. 2 countries share 220. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 116 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
116 rows · 3.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download refugees-hosted-1991-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
UNHCR’s own file, on its own site.
https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=1000&yearFrom=1991&yearTo=1991&coa_all=true

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (1991). Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, 1991 [data set], describing 1991. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/refugees-hosted/1991

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, 1990
111 countries
The year after ›
Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, 1992
130 countries
All of them
Refugee Population by Country of Asylum: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions