EMBARGOED UNTIL 19 JUNE 2019Global Trends – Executive Summary

UNHCR’s 2018 Global Trends report starkly reflects the continued escalation in global forced displacement. The number of people forced to flee war, persecution or violence has doubled over the past 20 years. Today one in every 108 people on earth is displaced.

On average, one person was forced to flee every two seconds of every day in 2018, escaping persecution, conflict or violence somewhere in the world. By the end of 2018, 70.8 million people were forcibly displaced, each with their own story to tell, each with a life or family uprooted, broken or lost. Desperate for safety and protection, many resorted to perilous journeys.

DISPLACEMENTOver 41 million internally displaced people (IDPs) made up the majority of the world’s displaced at the end of 2018. Many have been uprooted multiple times and face unthinkably difficult and dangerous conditions, with UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations unable to access or assist them as conflict ravages their countries. Nearly 26 million were refugees who fled primarily to neighbouring countries; 80% of all refugees were hosted in neighbouring countries, with 61% of all refugees living in cities and urban areas. We also

know more than 2/3 of the world’s refugees, or 67%, were from only five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia. In addition to IDPs and refugees, over 3.5 million were asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their application, a process that can take years in some countries; 1.7 million of these applications were filed in 2018.

As many developed countries adopt increasingly stricter asylum procedures and harsher deterrent tactics, the data clearly demonstrates most of the world’s refugees, 84%, live in developing countries; a full third of the world’s refugees live in the least developed countries,

whose own populations live under the poverty line but continue to support refugees, often in their own homes and communities. Developed countries only hosted 16% of the world’s refugees.

STATELESSNESSAlthough it is known that millions of people are stateless (without nationality or the rights and services nationality provides), in 2018 reliable data was recorded for 3.9 million stateless people in 78 countries world-wide. Statelessness persists around the world, including in the 25 states which do not allow women to transfer nationality to their children or in countries ravaged by conflict, where many fathers unknown, missing or deceased.

SOLUTIONSForced displacement is at a record high, but long-term solutions for those displaced are fewer and harder to come by. While 13.6 million people were newly displaced in 2018, fewer than 3 million were able to return home. Of those who were able to return home voluntarily and to safe conditions, only 593,800 were refugees returning to their homeland from abroad. And only 92,400 refugees, or 6.6% of the 1.4 million refugees identified as highly vulnerable and in need of resettlement, were offered resettlement in 25 countries world-

wide. This means a mere .035% of the total global refugee population were resettled in 2018. A third durable solution can be local integration; in 2018, 62,600 refugees were naturalized in 27 countries hosting refugees – a 15% decrease from the number of refugees offered citizenship and the full rights and services offered by host countries in 2017.

DEMOGRAPHICSData is critical to responsive effective humanitarian planning, protection services, and ultimately impacts legislations and policies that determines the fate of millions, however, reliable data can difficult to access. Year on year as numbers of displaced increases, collection, verification and sharing of data increases too, offering a clearer picture of not only those who are forcibly displaced but also those who are hosting and supporting them.

Half of the world’s refugees were children at the end of 2018, but what is even more alarming is the proportion of children in specific refugee populations, and especially the numbers of children fleeing alone. At least 138,600 children were unaccompanied or separated from their families, forced to flee to escape conflict, violence or persecution on their own. Refugee children travelling alone face heightened risks to their protection and safety, including exploitation, sexual and gender-based violence, trafficking and abuse. However, recording their numbers and identifying their specific needs is usually more challenging. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 63% of refugees were children. In South Sudan and Uganda, 62% were children. Uganda reported 41,200 unaccompanied or separated children, the highest level worldwide; moreover, they recorded

2,800 unaccompanied refugee children under the age of five.

Half of the world’s refugees were women. However, the proportion of women among refugee populations across regions and countries was widely divergent, with women making up nearly 60% of refugees in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, yet only 24% of those hosted in Ecuador.

Older people (60 years or above) accounted for only 3% of the world’s refugees in 2018. While much attention is usually focused on the world’s youngest refugees, it is often older generations who face the greatest challenges when they are displaced. Many older refugees are not physically able to cope with the journey to safety or the harsh conditions they find in exile; others lack access to basic services, such as medical facilities and shelter, particularly when they are alone or separated from their families.

61% of the world’s refugees were living in cities and urban areas at the end of 2018 – and not in camps, contrary to popular belief. Over 55% of the world’s total population live in urban settings, and refugee population demographics mirror that trend – or even surpass it in some regions. Syrian refugees predominantly live in urban areas and have caused the absolute numbers of urban refugees to more than double in recent years. 98% of Syrian refugees (6.3 million people) live in urban settings. The vast majority, 90%, live in private accommodations, usually renting rooms, apartments or other spaces in urban areas.

There were more adult men among urban refugees. More than two thirds of rural refugee populations were under 18 years old, while less than half of urban refugee populations were children. Among adult refugee populations, 58% of urban refugee populations were men, compared to 47% in rural areas.