UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency · Refugee Population by Country of Asylum
Refugees hosted by country
How many refugees does each country host?
Of the 177 countries compared in 2025, Germany had the highest reading, 2,655,191, and 10 countries shared the lowest reading, 0. In the middle country the figure was 12,269. Among the 101 countries measured in every edition since 1990, the middle one moved from 13,411 to 54,167.
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Refugees hosted · 2025
Context statistic
Highest of 177Germany
2,655,191012025 · values only
The highest and the lowest
The three countries with the highest values of 177 compared, the three with the lowest, and the highest on each continent. This statistic has no better end, so no country is shown as leading.
- 1
- 2
- 3
Lowest in 2025
This statistic has no better end: the two ends describe size, not success.
02Every measured country
Refugees hosted on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value. This statistic has no better end, so the shades describe size, not success.
- 0–166
- 182–4,621
- 4,673–36,395
- 40,794–186,393
- 192,914–2,655,191
- No reading in 2025 (15 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
95,007
the middle country, of 41 measured · 49 members
Germany2,655,191
Monaco17Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Africa
35,241
the middle country, of 51 measured · 55 members
Uganda1,936,7192 share 0
Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Asia
4,407
the middle country, of 43 measured · 52 members
Türkiye2,390,4143 share 0
Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Oceania
1,082
the middle country, of 6 measured · 21 members
Australia33,415
Vanuatu0Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Americas
309
the middle country, of 36 measured · 48 members
United States457,6474 share 0
Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Every region
21 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Southern Asia
238,643
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Bangladesh1,178,038
Sri Lanka213Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Europe
208,287
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Germany2,655,191Monaco17Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Northern Africa
200,304
the middle country, of 6 measured · 6 members
Sudan809,816
Tunisia2,386Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Eastern Europe
123,241
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Poland990,469
Ukraine2,370Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Northern Europe
98,776
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
United Kingdom581,072
Iceland8,459Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Middle Africa
62,500
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Chad1,502,263
Gabon166Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Eastern Africa
35,241
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Uganda1,936,719
Comoros5Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Southern Europe
25,285
the middle country, of 12 measured · 17 members
Spain511,079
Bosnia and Herzegovina586Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Africa
19,155
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Niger385,9862 share 0
Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Western Asia
9,885
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Türkiye2,390,414
Qatar195Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- South America
3,908
the middle country, of 12 measured · 12 members
Brazil278,966
Suriname24Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Central America
1,586
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
Mexico152,002
El Salvador182Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Southern Africa
1,414
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
South Africa55,177
Lesotho478Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Central Asia
1,150
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Tajikistan8,620
Uzbekistan5Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Asia
236
the middle country, of 5 measured · 8 members
Japan42,450
Mongolia11Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- South-eastern Asia
23
the middle country, of 9 measured · 11 members
Malaysia150,1643 share 0
Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Caribbean
6
the middle country, of 15 measured · 24 members
Trinidad and Tobago1,8774 share 0
Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia33,415
New Zealand2,148Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Melanesia
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu.
Papua New Guinea7,727Vanuatu0Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Nauru.
Nauru5Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States457,647
Canada416,028Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
03The whole field at once
The spread
177 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 12,269; a quarter are above 134,563, and a quarter below 347. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 192 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. Neither end of this table is better: hosting many refugees says where people fled to, often simply a neighbour of a war, not how well a country is run. A count, not a rate, so large countries and the neighbours of large crises dominate. Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA and the mostly Venezuelan "other people in need of international protection" are not in this count. A figure can also move when UNHCR moves people between categories rather than when people move. A 0 is UNHCR's published figure; a country with no row has none published.
Showing 25 of 192 countries
Values for 2025. The change column compares 2025 with 2024 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
051990–2025 · 36 editions
Over time
Each point is one end-of-year count from 1990, as UNHCR's database currently holds it — UNHCR occasionally revises earlier years. Earlier years exist but list too few host countries to read as a world table.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 101 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 177 | 12,269 | 347 – 134,563 | 54,167 |
| 2024 | 180 | 11,736 | 292 – 124,168 | 45,750 |
| 2023 | 177 | 11,856 | 477 – 103,606 | 39,044 |
| 2022 | 177 | 10,475 | 312 – 94,472 | 41,557 |
| 2021 | 179 | 4,200 | 296 – 64,453 | 26,045 |
| 2020 | 177 | 3,581 | 311 – 66,070 | 26,085 |
| 2019 | 176 | 3,823 | 352 – 57,946 | 25,869 |
| 2018 | 176 | 3,735 | 327 – 56,952 | 22,287 |
| 2017 | 174 | 3,776 | 360 – 48,502 | 19,425 |
| 2016 | 175 | 3,640 | 312 – 46,433 | 17,683 |
| 2015 | 175 | 3,261 | 250 – 40,935 | 19,369 |
| 2014 | 172 | 3,168 | 275 – 53,409 | 18,448 |
| 2013 | 171 | 3,166 | 196 – 49,608 | 18,681 |
| 2012 | 170 | 3,534 | 185 – 50,677 | 17,414 |
| 2011 | 169 | 4,074 | 216 – 35,658 | 16,212 |
| 2010 | 167 | 4,346 | 274 – 26,461 | 14,110 |
| 2009 | 161 | 4,751 | 281 – 35,213 | 14,722 |
| 2008 | 155 | 6,621 | 458 – 37,107 | 14,833 |
| 2007 | 154 | 5,093 | 618 – 36,288 | 16,877 |
| 2006 | 152 | 4,178 | 553 – 35,477 | 11,767 |
| 2005 | 150 | 4,502 | 605 – 43,716 | 11,232 |
| 2004 | 148 | 5,067 | 566 – 46,453 | 11,256 |
| 2003 | 147 | 5,912 | 578 – 45,429 | 10,835 |
| 2002 | 149 | 5,760 | 457 – 50,421 | 12,295 |
| 2001 | 151 | 6,804 | 508 – 40,383 | 8,708 |
| 2000 | 153 | 5,308 | 506 – 38,150 | 8,412 |
| 1999 | 151 | 5,560 | 486 – 49,269 | 12,113 |
| 1998 | 145 | 5,531 | 562 – 47,826 | 10,316 |
| 1997 | 147 | 5,520 | 480 – 47,215 | 12,017 |
| 1996 | 144 | 8,326 | 694 – 56,338 | 15,877 |
| 1995 | 145 | 8,118 | 628 – 62,145 | 17,916 |
| 1994 | 144 | 7,887 | 591 – 73,010 | 15,866 |
| 1993 | 142 | 8,256 | 508 – 78,423 | 23,267 |
| 1992 | 130 | 12,139 | 1,200 – 98,849 | 19,903 |
| 1991 | 116 | 11,876 | 675 – 77,376 | 19,020 |
| 1990 | 111 | 10,816 | 884 – 98,868 | 13,411 |
062024 → 2025
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Rose most
before → after
Libya200,335 → 552,523+352,188- Chad1,278,866 → 1,502,263+223,397
- Uganda1,759,492 → 1,936,719+177,227
- Bangladesh1,005,602 → 1,178,038+172,436
Mali135,533 → 286,715+151,182
176 countries were measured in both 2024 and 2025. The field changed from 180 to 177 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Refugees hosted in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
4,404,995
Refugees under UNHCR's mandate hosted, end of year (people)
Lowest reading on record
Reached 230 times by 47 countries — shared, so no holder is named
0
Refugees under UNHCR's mandate hosted, end of year (people)
Biggest rise between editions
+2,626,748
798,343 → 3,425,091
Biggest fall between editions
−2,718,743
3,489,257 → 770,514
Biggest change since first measured
+2,362,414
28,000 → 2,390,414
Highest most often
2 countries share this record — no holder is named
13 of 36
editions
08The measure
About refugees hosted
How many refugees under UNHCR's mandate were living in each country at the end of the year — recognised refugees and people in refugee-like situations, counted where they have found protection. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, compiles it from governments and its own operations, and it is the standard world count of who hosts the people who have fled their own country.
What the number is: Refugees under UNHCR's mandate hosted, end of year (people).
What it does not measure
It counts refugees under UNHCR's mandate only: Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA and other people UNHCR considers in need of international protection are not included. It is a headcount, not a share of the population, and says nothing about how well refugees are treated.
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Risk & Resilience and Mobility & Trade, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Risk & ResilienceMobility & TradeWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where refugees hosted is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Asylum-Seekers by Country of AsylumUNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency · 177 countries in commonρ 0.71
- International MigrantsUN DESA Population Division · 177 countries in commonρ 0.63
- Scholarly ArticlesOurResearch · 176 countries in commonρ 0.55
Moves against
Where refugees hosted is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Postnatal Care for Newborns Within Two DaysUNICEF · 87 countries in commonρ −0.40
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 378 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
11Questions
Refugees hosted: questions and answers
Which country has the highest refugees hosted?
Germany, at 2,655,191, among the 177 countries compared in 2025.
Which country has the lowest refugees hosted?
10 countries share the lowest reading, 0, among the 177 compared in 2025, so no single country is named.
How many countries does the Refugee Population by Country of Asylum cover?
177 in 2025, and 192 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 111 to 180 between editions.
What is the world average refugees hosted?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 177 compared in 2025, the figure was 12,269.
Is this UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Refugee Population by Country of Asylum published?
This site holds 36 editions, describing 1990 to 2025.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, under CC BY 4.0. Read from the UNHCR Refugee Population Statistics Database through UNHCR's own API, grouped by country of asylum, rather than from the World Bank's copy. UNHCR rounds figures below five to the nearest multiple of five to protect confidentiality. Serbia's figure includes Kosovo, as UNHCR publishes it. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Refugee Population by Country of Asylum — UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
Read from the UNHCR Refugee Population Statistics Database through UNHCR's own API, grouped by country of asylum, rather than from the World Bank's copy. UNHCR rounds figures below five to the nearest multiple of five to protect confidentiality. Serbia's figure includes Kosovo, as UNHCR publishes it.
Newest edition
Report year 2025Data year 2025
Cite the source as: UNHCR Refugee Population Statistics Database. Geneva: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-26.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- This statistic has no better end, so the page describes higher and lower values and never calls a country a leader.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Refugees hosted by country: Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, data from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/refugees-hosted