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Under the framework of its post-arrival humanitarian assistance, IOM will provide a comprehensive set of services starting with initial screening and referral of identified vulnerable undocumented Afghan returnees according to its established vulnerability criteria in coordination with the Directorate of Refugees and Repatriation (DoRR). This will be followed by provision of non-food item (NFI) kits, food packages for families in need, health screening and referral, and provision of overnight accommodation and services at a transit centre. If needed, family tracing will be carried out for vulnerable individuals including unaccompanied minors. Protection screening and psycho-social counselling will also be provided in light of observed trend of some beneficiaries suffering from experiences while in detention or deportation procedures. Legal counselling, including facilitating registration for E-Tazkira at transit centres will also be made available for returnees.

The above humanitarian actions will be complemented by direct reintegration support to specific highly vulnerable groups of non-refugee returnees with high protection risks. For these groups, IOM plans to respond to their needs by providing different forms of direct reintegration support through a flexible reintegration package. As an example, single female returnees will receive shelter and reintegration and educational training support at the transit centre in Herat. IOM will most importantly conduct a local market assessment of which income generating activities they could carry out in light of their vulnerable socio-economic status (e.g. home-based activities) after which they will be provided with literacy and other educational training. For UAMs, IOM plans to provide educational and skills training for the minors while providing vocational trainings/business development package to heads of households which are suited to labour market demands. These activities will involve DoRR as well as Directorate of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled in order to strengthen their capacity in return and reintegration assistance.

Provision of vocational training or educational assistance to these groups will not only support their sustainable reintegration but also support to mitigate various risks such as; becoming a victim of human trafficking or engaging in irregular migration, increasing their vulnerability to a host of other protection risks.

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**The following sectors are solely in response to the Pakistani Refugees**

**Protection**
The provision of services to the local population is essential to avoid the perception amongst host communities that the refugees constitute a burden on the community, or on existing local services and the environment, potentially inflaming feelings of resentment. Accordingly, it is important to ensure that services and activities are provided for both the hosting communities and the refugees, such as maintaining or improving the local infrastructure (roads, hospitals, and schools) and ensuring access to resources including water.

Registration is a priority activity and will help UNHCR and partners to better understand the refugee population, profile and vulnerabilities. This exercise will pave the way for development of longerterm strategies, design effective interventions and facilitate voluntary repatriation and. Other protection concerns include access to social services, particularly health care; family separation, including unaccompanied or separated children; presence of single women and elderly without support within the population; access and mobility for disabled; the risk of human trafficking; access to assistance by all community members, particularly women and girls; and the risk of mines and unexploded ordnances both in the camp and in communities.

**Camp Management**
Currently, there is only one camp and it is located in Gurboz District, Khost Province. No provision is being made for additional camps, however if the Government decides to open more refugee camps, additional funding will be required. Approximately 3,500 families live in Gulan Camp and it is expected to reach at least 4,000 by January, climbing to 5,000 families by spring. The overall objectives are to provide life-saving assistance and support refuges in organizing themselves to better their conditions in the camp and provide a safe and secure environment where refugees can exercise their rights. In particular, UNHCR will continue to undertake basic site planning and infrastructure work in the camp, security measures in coordination with the authorities, as well as shelter.

Camp Governance: UNHCR foresees the following community services as essential in order to promote representation and good governance in Gulan Camp: i) In order to allow community feedback, weekly meetings are held with the camp _shura_, a structure of elders, each representing an average number of 50 families; ii) Dialogue with refugee _Jirga_ and linkage to local _Jirga_ system as appropriate, as well as referrals to formal justice system; iii) Dialogue and activities with female refugees, within a very traditional and conservative context that generally prevents women from moving outside the confines of the family compound; iv) Display of information on services and announcements Site planning and infrastructure: The importance of preserving and promoting a sense of community within the camp is paramount, and will reflect existing community structures. Camp planning is ongoing and should see further developments once the number of refugees is stabilized (with the possibility of a harsh winter, it may be expected that the refugee population currently in the mountainous areas south and south-east of Gulan, in Gurboz district, may decide to settle in Gulan camp). Some of the activities that will take place in the first half of 2015 include: comprehensive drainage system, access roads, construction of four community centres, improvement of warehousing and distribution facilities and construction of basic support services. In parallel, each extended family will be assigned a plot, in a way that preserves the existing settlement pattern in the camp (extended families, sub-tribes, tribes). Site planning will take into consideration possible 12 |


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further extension of the camp to the south and west. Site planning and basic infrastructure will be done to the extent possible using refugees and local communities, thus providing Cash-for-Work opportunities.

Shelter: Winterization of tents is likely to be largely finished by January 2015. Given the average life expectancy of a tent, the humanitarian community expects to have to replace tents or provide alternative shelter for 5,000 families in the camp in the second quarter of 2015. Decisions on shelter strategy (tents or emergency to transitional shelter) will be taken towards the end of the first quarter based on assessments of refugees’ intentions of returning to Pakistan.

Security: The humanitarian community will continue to support the local authorities, who are planning to deploy an additional 53 ANP to provide security surrounding the perimeter of Gulan Camp on a 24-hour basis. Within the camp, support is also required for the deployment of local guards on a 24-hour basis, as well as helping refugees to organize a community watch system.

**Shelter and infrastructure/NFIs for hosted communities**
With the exception of protection activities, Quick Impact Projects (QIPS) for peaceful co-existence and shelter, the humanitarian community does not plan to have large-scale interventions for refugees in host communities, but instead encourages an approach that incorporates refugees into development assistance of the communities. As part of the transitional strategy, advocacy efforts will ensure that the local government includes refugees in service delivery and development plans.

In coordination with other partners with a strong track record in shelter as a durable solution, the shelter operational organisations will develop a strategy to begin in the second half of 2015, after a re-assessment of the situation in the spring. The strategy will be influenced by refugees’ intentions regarding return and will support local communities hosting large number of refugees. In the first half of 2015, shelter will continue to be handled within the emergency response framework, taking into account the need for additional protection against the elements during the first months of the year.

The humanitarian community will continue to provide basic non-food items for all new arrivals as well as replacing part of the non-food items package (plastic sheets, jerry cans and blankets) on a needs basis for up to 4,000 families in Khost and Paktika; as well as on an emergency basis for persons with specific needs. A total of 2,500 tents will be distributed also on a needs basis.
Operational partners are revising distribution modalities in order to make them more effective in ensuring predictable and equitable distribution in all communities, as well as Gulan Camp.

**Water, sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)**
In 2015, the WASH partners will continue to support both refugees and host communities in Khost and Paktika. Emergency WASH response will continue to focus on life-saving activities including rehabilitation/disinfection of water points (WP), rehabilitation of pipe schemes, water disinfection, distribution of hygiene kits and provision of sanitation infrastructure. The construction of new WPs and sustainable sanitation infrastructures will also be considered as an option in the districts that are under-covered.

Based on refugee’s figures and results of the assessments conducted in 2014, nine districts were identified as priority targets for WASH. In Khost province, in order of priority: (1) Gurboz, (2) Khost Center/Lakan, (3) Mandozayi, (4) Terezayi, (5) Spera, (6) Tani and (7) Matoon Shamal. In Paktika province, the priorities are Barmal and Urgun districts. Barmal is poorly accessible for security reasons. In Khost province, the needs of 128,137 individuals were assessed (29,200 refugees and 98,937 individuals in the host community), using a Rapid Assessment Form to collect quantitative 13 |

Rapid Assessment Form

Rapid Assessment Form


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data at village/community level. In Paktika province, the survey was carried out in two districts (Barmal and Urgun) using qualitative data collection methods (key informant interview and FGD).

Based on the assessments results, the partners in Khost and Paktika have started to respond to acute needs in 2014 and will pursue their efforts in 2015 to reach the selected targets. The activities foreseen in 2015 are detailed in the annex and will cover the acute WASH needs of the affected population where accessibility is granted.

To prepare for a possible additional refugee crisis in 2015, the WASH cluster will reinforce its operational capacity, among others in developing standard assessment forms, strengthening its contingency plan and training key resources at decentralized levels. Under the oversight of the WASH cluster, partners will be supported in conducting Rapid Assessment and data processing within two weeks following onset of a crisis. Additional decision-making tools will be made available such as a standard WASH Comprehensive Assessment Tool (CAT) and technical guidelines to implement rapid live saving activities

**Emergency Health and Nutrition**
The 2014 Humanitarian Needs Overview shows both provinces were among the 13 high-risk provinces identified, to which additional resources from the Common Humanitarian Fund are being used. There was no allocation for emergency primary healthcare services in inaccessible areas, nor treatment of malnutrition in 2014 but it is estimated that the refugees will require substantial nutrition services in 2015. Khost also ranked high with regard to the prevalence of malnutrition with 18.2%; well above the emergency threshold of 15%. In Paktika, the overall malnutrition rates stand at 8.7%. The targets for the Nutrition cluster are calculated using the overall need for the refugees and assuming 50% coverage due to insecurity in many parts of Paktika as well as partner capacity to scale up in the two provinces.

Utilizing existing resources, the Nutrition cluster is currently working on a modality to conduct nutrition surveys in the area in order to assess the nutritional status of the refugee population. It will also determine whether the additional burden for hosting communities may further exacerbate the already high malnutrition rates, particularly in Khost. If the situation worsens, additional funds will be required in order to adequately respond to the need.

The spread of contagious but preventable diseases, such as measles, polio and Pertussis are high due to very low vaccination coverage of the refugee population. Outbreak of diarrhoeal disease, including cholera is a major concern for both the refugee population and hosting communities, due to the water scarcity in the summer season, endemic prevalence of such diseases and increased population with poor hygiene practices. The health system in both provinces has no capacity to handle a major cholera outbreak, thus cholera treatment centres are urgently required.

In addition to communicable diseases, the situation merits scaling up of routine primary healthcare services, particularly with regard to maternal and child health and mental health care. It is known that refugee populations in a camp or among host community suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The large influx has overburdened the health service providers; as such there is a dire need for additional support to meet the increased demand.

**Food Security**
Since the onset of refugees entering Khost and Paktika in mid-2014, assessments have indicated food assistance to be a top priority. WFP began its emergency food assistance to Pakistani refugees with an initial caseload of 1,500 households. The total number of families supported by WFP has now reached nearly 23,000 households, with an expectation that this may increase to at least 30,000 households in the coming months, based on the current, most-likely scenario. Food distributions will 14 |

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at all times focus on most vulnerable populations, who are scattered in 12 districts in Khost and Paktika provinces. The majority are concentrated in Khost centre, Matun, Gulan camp in Gurboz and Bermal district in Paktika. To date, WFP has distributed a total of 4,100 metric tons of mixed food.

At the field level, WFP has worked closely with the local authorities, UNHCR and other UN agencies, as well as NGO partners. WFP currently has agreements with two NGOs (MEHR & ORCD) for food distribution, and out-sourced monitors who are able to verify that distributions have been completed according to agreed protocols, and help identify any gaps and challenges. An agreement under which UNHCR takes over responsibility for secondary transport and distribution, as per corporate protocols, is due to be in place by November.

Host communities have played an important role in helping refugees meet their basic needs, mainly achieved through depletion of food stocks, selling and consumption of poultry products, and selling of crop seeds set aside for plantation. This had a negative impact on the food security and livelihoods of host communities. In order to address this, the local communities require support with agriculture inputs, certified wheat, maize, mung bean, vegetable seeds, small-scale poultry production, as well as training in livelihood protection. This will bolster their capacity to continue hosting refugees and help compensate for their depleted food and seed stocks.

**Education**
Safeguarding the right to education is an essential strategy to ensure the protection of children and adolescents and to fulfil its commitment towards the Education for All Framework. Children and adolescents should have access to child-friendly spaces, where recreational and learning activities, as well as psycho-social support, will be provided. Educational activities should be safe enough to provide effective protection to refugee children, adolescents, boys and girls. Prevention and response mechanisms to violence in school should also be established.

As per initial estimates, 58% of the refugee population are children. Initial educational services and psychosocial support are being are being provided for 2,800 refugee children in grades 1-6 in Khost in a partnership between DoE, NRC and UNICEF. This needs to be expanded to cover all children, including older children, and children need to be provided with Pakistani text books (while both the Pakistani refugees and the host population speak Pashto, the Pakistani children are taught in Urdu and English, and generally do not read Afghan Pashto). In addition, DoE and UNICEF are establishing 100 temporary learning places in Paktika. DoE is providing funding for additional teachers while UNICEF is providing teaching and learning materials as well as tents. UNICEF will provide capacity building support to DoE in Paktika as well as continuing to provide TLM supplies.

**Partnership and Coordination**
At the national level, issues with regard to the displacement are dealt with under the National Security Council (NSC). Under the leadership of the NSC, and chaired by the Deputy National Security Advisor, a task force monitors ongoing humanitarian activities in Khost and Paktika and provides support to the provincial committees. Members of this task force include representatives from key ministries and the Afghan Red Crescent Society. UNHCR, as the mandated UN agency for refugee response, is represented at the NSC Taskforce meetings. The purpose of the taskforce is to provide regular reports to the President and the National Security Advisor via the task force Chair.

On the basis of recommendations made by this task force, the GoIRA – in coordination with UNHCR – will lead the refugee response as part of the overall humanitarian response under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator. A Task Force has been set up in Kabul by UNHCR to facilitate the coordination of the response to the refugee and displaced families in Khost and Paktika.
The task force includes humanitarian partners directly involved in responding to the arrivals and with current experience from the region. The members include the following UN agencies: FAO, IOM, 15 |


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UNFPA, UNICEF, UNMAS, WFP and WHO, as well as national and international NGOs: CARE International, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees (DACAAR), Health Net International (HNI-TPO), International Medical Corps (IMC), International Rescue Committee (IRC), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Solidarites International, and The Liaison Office (TLO), as well as the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS).

A task force has also been established in Khost, co-chaired by the Governor of Khost and UNHCR.
The Governor of Khost has also set up eleven committees in districts affected by the refugee influx.
These committees are headed by various active heads of departments and are aimed at helping with registration, coordination of humanitarian organisations and the facilitation of distribution of humanitarian assistance. These 11 committees report to a central secretariat at the provincial level.
This secretariat is responsible for ensuring coherence, setting priorities and monitoring performance to mitigate corruption and enhance transparency and receives direct support from UNHCR. The secretariat reports directly to the Governor of Khost.

There are a limited number of humanitarian actors in Khost who were able to cover the most essential needs during the emergency phase. The number of actors is slowly increasing and GoIRA, in collaboration with UNHCR, is coordinating the assistance and repartition of coverage by sectors.
Assistance in areas of WASH, health, shelter and food security is being dealt with by the partners already on the ground, while the Cluster Coordinators are kept informed in Kabul, in order to utilize existing expertise and resources available in-country. Once the emergency phase moves into a more stable response, UNHCR will remain responsible for all protection issues, in coordination with relevant partners.

In Paktika, assistance and support will be coordinated by the Governor’s office – in cooperation with UNHCR – from Bermal district centre. Remote support to the provincial and district governing authorities will be provided. Regular coordination meetings, co-chaired by the Governor’s office and UNHCR, and national non-governmental organizations on the ground take place and have facilitated the coordination of distribution of assistance to refugee families residing mainly in Bermal and Urgun districts of Paktika. Coordination and liaison between the Governor’s office, UNHCR and national and international organizations also takes place at the Kabul level.

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**STRATEGIC PRIORITY THREE: TIMELY RESPONSE TO AFFECTED POPULATIONS**

**OUTCOME THREE: 3.3 TIMELY PROVISION OF LIFESAVING ASSISTANCE TO REFUGEES, AFGHAN REFUGEE**
**RETURNEES AND UNDOCUMENTED VULNERABLE RETURNEES**

**Objective 1:** Provision of protection to Pakistani refugees

OUTPUTS Locations Indicators Target 80-100% of refugees 12,000 children 12,000 children 2,000 families 20,000 vulnerable families 5,000 families 100% Quality of registration and profiling improved Khost and Paktika (including Gulan camp) or maintained % of persons of concern registered on an individual basis Extent children of concern have non-discriminatory access to national child protection and social services school-age children have access to educational and psychosocial services

# of elderly persons of concern who
receive services for their specific needs Extent persons of concern are represented in leadership management structures Extent camp coordination mechanisms working effectively % of camp population who received M/ERW Security from Violence and Exploitation: protection of children strengthened, risk of SGBV is reduced and quality of response improved Khost and Paktika (including Gulan camp) Services for persons with specific Khost and Paktika (including Gulan camp) needs strengthened Community-based approach, including participatory assessments, in the emergency operation to ensure that the Khost and Paktika (including Gulan camp) follow-up phase supports communities to regain control of their lives as quickly as possible Camp management and coordination refined Gulan camp and improved Mine and ERW risk education Gulan camp

**Objective 2:** Essential services to Pakistani refugees, while pursuing durable solutions

Activities Locations Indicator Target 5,000 families 5,000 families 5,000 families 5,000 families 5,000 families 5,000 families 17 |

Uniform treatment and standards of protection and services for all refugees Gulan Camp Proportion of household with access to a functioning toilet Proportion of household possessing soap Proportion of household with emergency tents Preventative and life-saving health care services provided Supply of potable water increased or maintained Perimeter of the refugee camp secured

Locations Indicators


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Activities Locations Indicator Target Comprehensive needs assessment 2,500 tents/families 3,000 NFI kits/families 80% of refugees hosted Ensure Refugees have adequate protection from the weather in order to create the necessary privacy, psychological comfort, and emotional safety through provision of emergency shelter and NFI's Khost and Paktika To re-assess post-spring the emergency shelter situation on the ground in order to revise the approach and develop a transitional solutions according Procurement and distribution of emergency tents Population has sufficient basic and domestic items Proportion of households within intervention areas with access to safe drinking water Number of jerry cans distributed 1,142 jerry cans WASH services are provided to refugees Khost and Paktika and the host communities Reduce incidence of maternal and child mortality and morbidity in targeted Khost and Paktika areas

# of children vaccinated 136,221
vaccinated Proportion of households within intervention areas with soap available at hand washing area Proportion of households within intervention areas with access to a functioning toilet Case fatality rate during epidemics are maintained within internationally agreed standards Case fatality rate during epidemics are maintained within internationally agreed standards 80% of refugees hosted 80% of refugees hosted Measles CFR <5% Cholera <1% Measles CFR <5% Cholera <1% % of new unforeseen emergencies responded to with adequate supplies 100% To provide Food assistance to meet their immediate food needs Khost and Paktika To provide Food assistance to meet # of families supplied with adequate 30,000 most their immediate food needs Khost and Paktika and nutritional food vulnerable refugee families

**Objective 3:** Immediate humanitarian needs for refugee returnees and undocumented vulnerable migrant
returnees, are met

# of families supplied with adequate
and nutritional food Activities Locations Indicator Target 50,000 refugee returnees Voluntary repatriation: protection and basic assistance upon arrival, supporting education registration, lifesaving healthcare, and essential vaccinations for children under 5 years of age, as well as basic mine/ERW awareness, transit facilities and how to access legal aid Undocumented vulnerable returnees: provision of humanitarian assistance and return assistance upon arrival.

The most vulnerable returnees will be prioritized for the provision of shelter, access to basic services and reintegration assistance UNHCR and DoRR Encashment/ reception centres in Nangarhar, Paktya, Kandahar, Kabul and Herat provinces Herat, Nangarhar, Nimroz, Khost and Paktika Herat, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Kabul, Nimroz, Gardez, Khost and Paktika Areas of highest return with most vulnerable

# of Afghan refugee returnees
receiving assistance upon arrival

# of returnees identified
as People with Specific Needs provided assistance

# of returnees
assisted at place of return

# of returnee families covered 5,000
under UNHCR Protection refugee returnee monitoring (through H/H returnees surveys and tracking interviews, follow up, physical visit of families in their places of return

# of PSNs assisted 45,000
Undocumented migrant returnees 1,360 returnees (refugee and undocumented 245,600 refugee returnees 18 |

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**Pelagea, 73, fled Donetsk in August 2014** after life under
shelling in her village became unbearable. She is one of 25,000 internally displaced persons who have sought safety in Mariupol. Life in a collective centre is not easy, with cramped quarters and communal bathrooms and kitchens, but “we help each other,” she says. The IDPs rely on the generous support of the local Ukrainian community, which donates food, clothing and blankets.

**2** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


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I

**INTRODUCTION**

Conflict, persecution, generalized violence and violations of human rights continued to cause forced displacement around the world during the first six months of 2015. Fighting across parts of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa have continued into the first half of the year, resulting in millions of individuals being forced to flee either within or outside their country.

y the end of 2014, 59.5 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations. **[(1)]** An updated figure on global forced displacement was not available at the time of writing this
# **B**
report. As the number of refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide continued to grow in 2015, it is likely that this figure has far surpassed 60 million. **[(2)]** During the first half of 2015, UNHCR offices reported that at least five million individuals were newly displaced. Some 4.2 million were newly displaced within their own country, while 839,000 were displaced across international borders. This compares to 5.5 million newly displaced persons during the same period in 2014.
In addition, in 2015 Europe has experienced exceptionally large numbers of refugees and migrants arriving via the Mediterranean Sea, a majority of whom are from the Syrian Arab Republic and other conflict-affected countries and regions. As most of these arrivals have occurred since June 2015, their numbers are only partly captured in this report.

Population of concern to UNHCR By mid-2015, the total population of concern to UNHCR stood at an unprecedented 58.0 million persons. This includes persons who are forcibly displaced (notably refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs), those who have found a durable solution (returnees), as well stateless persons, most of whom have never been forcibly displaced.
This categorization is neither identical to nor synonymous with the global number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide (59.5 million by the end of 2014). It not only includes refugees and IDPs beyond UNHCR’s mandate but also excludes returnees and stateless persons.
A detailed breakdown of UNHCR’s population of concern by category and country is provided in Annex Table 1 on page 16.

This report analyses displacement trends during the first half of 2015, based on statistics collected by UNHCR, governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Unless otherwise specified, figures are limited to events occurring up to 30 June 2015. The statistics included in this report should be considered provisional and subject to change, especially with regard to asylum trends. n

**(1)** Some 19.5 million persons were refugees: 14.4 million under UNHCR’s mandate and 5.1 million Palestinian refugees registered by UNRWA. The global figure
included 38.2 million IDPs and 1.8 million asylum-seekers. See 2014 Statistical Yearbook at http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a02afce6.html.

**(2)** An updated figure on global forced displacement will be available in June 2016, on the occasion of the release of the 2015 Global Trends report.

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **3**

2014 Statistical Yearbook

statistics collected by UNHCR

statistics collected by UNHCR


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II

**REFUGEES**

Fig. 1 **Refugee population under UNHCR’s**
**mandate ** | 1990 - 2015*

20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 (in millions) ‘90 ‘95 ‘00 ‘05 ‘10 ‘15

***** 1990-2014 (end-year); 2015 (mid-year)

The total number of refugees **[(3)]** has increased significantly and consistently over the past four years.
Starting from 10.4 million at the end of 2011, the number increased to 10.5 million in 2012, to 11.7 million in 2013, and finally to 14.4 million by the end of 2014. By mid-2015, it had reached an estimated 15.1 million, its highest level in 20 years.
Within three and a half years, then, the global refugee population grew by 4.7 million persons – some 45 per cent.
The main contributing factor to this trend has been the war in the Syrian Arab Republic. Excluding that country, the increase from the end of 2011 to mid-2015 would have been only half a million refugees (+5%). Clearly, the devastating effect of the Syrian conflict is being felt far beyond its neighbouring countries.
In addition to the Syrian crisis, the outbreak of armed conflicts or deterioration of ongoing ones in Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine, among others, have contributed to prevailing trends. Meanwhile, the number of refugees able to return to their country of origin has trended downward, indicating that many refugees will continue to reside in exile for years to come.
As a result of observed trends, sub-Saharan Africa is host to the largest number of refugees (4.1 million), followed by Asia and Pacific (3.8 million), Europe (3.5 million), and the Middle East and North Africa (3.0 million). The Americas hosted 753,000 refugees at mid-2015 [ _see_ **Table 1** _below_ ].

By Origin The top 10 source countries of refugees recorded at mid-2015 remained unchanged compared to the beginning of the year. However, individual rankings within these top 10 did change during the reporting period.
The Syrian Arab Republic remained the largest source country of refugees, with a refugee population of 4.2 million by mid-2015. This figure has increased dramatically, rising from below 20,000 at the end of 2010. As such, starting in mid-2014, the Syrian Arab Republic replaced Afghanistan as the main source country of refugees worldwide, a rank Afghanistan had previously held for more than three decades.
The Syrian refugee population grew by more than 300,000 people during the reporting period. Surrounding countries continue to be impacted heavily by the crisis, with the number of registered Syrians in Turkey (1.8 million), **[(4)]** Lebanon (1.2 million), Jordan (628,800), Iraq (251,300), and Egypt (131,900) remaining high.
Outside the immediate region, Germany was hosting 66,000 Syrian refugees at mid-2015, up from 41,000 six months earlier.
The Afghan refugee population remained relatively stable at about 2.6 million. The process to renew Proof of Registration cards for Afghans in Pakistan ended in March 2015. This exercise led to a net increase in the number of Afghan refugees recorded of about 80,000 persons, including some 10,000 new-borns, though this was partly offset by the voluntary return of some 46,000 Afghan refu

**(3)** For the purposes of this report, unless otherwise stated, the term “refugees” refers to refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, and does not include Palestinian
refugees registered with UNRWA.

**(4)** At the time of writing this report (December 2015), the number of Syrians registered in Turkey was approaching 2.2 million.

**4** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

Proof of Registration cards


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Map 1

**Who is hosting the world’s refugees? ** | end-2010

**Germany**

**Syrian Arab Rep.**

**Jordan**

**Pakistan**

**Islamic Rep.**
**of Iran**

1,000,000 500,000 100,000

**Who is hosting the world’s refugees? ** | mid-2015

**Turkey**

**Lebanon**

**Pakistan**

**Islamic Rep.**
**of Iran**

**Ethiopia**

1,000,000 500,000 100,000 The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
A country is listed if it featured among the top-5 per year.

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **5** Map 2

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


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TABLE 1 **Refugee populations by UNHCR regions ** | 2015

Start-2015 Mid-2015 Change (total) People in People in refugee-like refugee-like UNHCR regions Refugees situations Total refugees Refugees situations Total refugees Absolute %

- Central Africa and Great Lakes 625,000 37,600 662,600 865,100 13,700 878,800 216,200 32.6%

- East and Horn of Africa 2,568,000 33,400 2,601,400 2,713,700 33,600 2,747,300 145,900 5.6%

- Southern Africa 174,700 - 174,700 179,800 - 179,800 5,100 2.9%

- West Africa 252,000 - 252,000 258,900 - 258,900 6,900 2.7%
Total Africa * 3,619,700 71,000 3,690,700 4,017,500 47,300 4,064,800 374,100 10.1% UNHCR regions Refugees People in refugee-like situations Total refugees Refugees Americas 509,300 259,700 769,000 501,000 251,900 752,900 -16,100 -2.1% Asia and Pacific 3,568,500 280,100 3,848,600 3,506,600 278,400 3,785,000 -63,600 -1.7% Europe 3,095,000 18,200 3,113,200 3,475,300 14,300 3,489,600 376,400 12.1% Middle East and North Africa 2,898,500 65,400 2,963,900 2,941,100 64,200 3,005,300 41,400 1.4%
**Total** **13,691,000** **694,400** **14,385,400** **14,441,500** **656,100** **15,097,600** **712,200** **5.0%**

Note

- Excluding North Africa.

gees from Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Both countries continued to host the majority of Afghan refugees, with 1.5 million and 951,000 persons, respectively. As such, Afghanistan remained the second-largest source country for refugees.
Somalia was the third-largest source country of refugees worldwide and the largest in sub-Saharan Africa, with the number of Somali refugees remaining stable at 1.1 million. Kenya (418,900), Yemen (249,000), and Ethiopia (247,300) were the main host countries of these refugees.

Fig. 2 **Where do the world’s refugees**
**come from?**

(in millions) Syrian Arab Rep.

Afghanistan Somalia South Sudan Sudan The ongoing conflict in South Sudan forced tens of thousands of individuals to flee to neighbouring countries during the first half of the year. As a result, the estimated number of South Sudanese refugees grew from 616,200 at the beginning of 2015 to 744,100 at the end of June 2015. This made South Sudan the fourth-largest source country of refugees worldwide. Ethiopia (275,400), Sudan (190,700), and Uganda (179,600) were hosting the largest populations of South Sudanese refugees.
The number of Sudanese refugees dropped from 665,900 at the beginning of the year to 640,900 at mid-2015, making this the fifth-largest source country of refugees at mid-2015. This decline is largely due to a biometric verification exercise undertaken in Chad, where records of many refugees have either been closed or deactivated, assuming these refugees had left Chad.
Other important source countries of refugees included the Democratic Republic of the Congo (535,300), the Central African Republic (470,600), Myanmar (458,400), Eritrea (383,900), and Iraq (377,700).

By Country of Asylum By mid-2015, refugees resided in 169 countries or territories. Sudan now features among the top 10 refugee-hosting countries, having replaced China.

**mid-2015** This is largely due to the conflict in South Sudan,

**end-2014** which forced tens of thousands to flee to Sudan, as

**mid-2014** outlined above. With this inclusion, half of the top

**end-2013** 10 refugee-hosting countries are now located in

sub-Saharan Africa, with four of them being least developed countries.
With 1.84 million refugees in its territory, 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 Turkey remained the country hosting the largest Dem. Rep.
of Congo Central African Rep.

Myanmar Eritrea

**mid-2015**

**end-2014**

**mid-2014**

**end-2013**

Iraq

**6** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

biometric verification exercise

biometric verification exercise


Input:
number of refugees at mid-2015. This is a significant turnaround, as until 2012, Turkey did not feature among even the top 20 refugee-hosting countries. At the end of the reporting period, Syrians accounted for 1.81 million or 98 per cent of all registered refugees in the country, most of them located in urban agglomerations. In addition, the number of Iraqi refugees registered with UNHCR in Turkey stood at 20,600.
Pakistan hosted the second-largest number of refugees worldwide with 1.5 million individuals, virtually all of them from Afghanistan. The renewal of some 80,000 Proof of Registration cards for Afghan refugees was partly offset by the voluntary return of around 44,700 Afghans from Pakistan to their country.
Lebanon remained the third-largest refugeehosting country, with 1.2 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate. As in Turkey, the overwhelming majority (99%) of refugees in Lebanon originated from the Syrian Arab Republic. This was in addition to 7,300 Iraqi refugees.
The number of refugees in the Islamic Republic of Iran remained virtually unchanged from the beginning of 2015, at 982,000 at mid-year. This figure included 951,000 Afghan refugees and 28,300 Iraqi refugees. As such, the Islamic Republic of Iran remained the fourth-largest refugee-hosting country worldwide.
The refugee population in Ethiopia continued to grow in 2015, reaching 702,500 by mid-year. This compares to 659,500 six months earlier and is the result of an influx of South Sudanese and Eritrean refugees, among others. Ethiopia remained the fifth-largest refugee-hosting country worldwide, with the largest such populations originating from South Sudan (275,400), Somalia (247,300), Eritrea (139,300), and Sudan (36,500).
The number of refugees in Jordan under UNHCR’s mandate increased by about 10,000 persons to 664,100 at mid-year, most of whom originated from the Syrian Arab Republic. The refugee population in Kenya remained virtually unchanged at 552,300. As such, Jordan and Kenya remained the sixth- and seventh-largest refugee-hosting countries, respectively.
With renewed conflicts in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, tens of thousands of individuals fled these two countries to Uganda during the first part of the year. As a consequence, Uganda hosted a new all-time high for the country of 428,400 refugees.

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0

***** Refugee figure for Syrians in Turkey is a Government estimate.

Other important refugee-hosting countries at mid-year were Chad and Sudan, with 420,800 and 356,200 refugees, respectively. The top 10 refugee-hosting countries combined hosted close to 8.7 million or 57 per cent of all refugees under UNHCR’s mandate.

New Refugee Arrivals More than 839,000 persons were newly displaced across international borders during the first half of 2015, the overwhelming majority of whom found refuge in neighbouring countries or elsewhere in the immediate region. This figure refers to refugees who have been recognized on a _prima facie_ basis as well as those who have been newly registered and granted temporary protection. An additional 221,000 persons were granted refugee status or a complementary form of protection following refugee status determination during the reporting period.
Armed conflict in both the Syrian Arab Republic and Ukraine predominantly accounted for this new displacement, as half of the 839,000 persons originated from one of these two countries. While more than 318,000 Syrians were newly registered during the first half of 2015, UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **7** Fig. 3 **Major refugee-hosting countries** (in millions)

*Turkey

Pakistan Lebanon Iran (Islamic Rep. of) Ethiopia Jordan Kenya

**mid-2015**

Uganda Chad Sudan

**end-2014**

**mid-2014**

**end-2013**

Proof of Registration cards

Proof of Registration cards


Input:
Fig. 4 **Number of refugees per 1 USD GDP (PPP)**
**per capita ** | mid-2015

Ethiopia 469 Pakistan Uganda Dem. Rep.
of Congo Chad Kenya South Sudan Afghanistan Cameroon Turkey 322 216 208 193 186 135 117 102 94 mostly in neighbouring countries, more than 97,000 Ukrainians were granted temporary protection in the Russian Federation.
Excluding the Syrian Arab Republic and Ukraine, the vast majority of newly displaced persons originated from countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The outbreak of violence in Burundi combined with renewed and ongoing fighting in the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Nigeria, and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have contributed most significantly to the high level of new displacement during the first half of the year.

Fig. 5 **Number of refugees per 1,000**
**inhabitants ** | mid-2015

Lebanon 209 More than 140,400 Burundians were recognized as refugees on a _prima facie_ basis during the reporting period, notably in the United Republic of Tanzania (69,400), Rwanda (58,700), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11,700). Similarly, an estimated 118,800 South Sudanese sought refuge in neighbouring countries during the first half of 2015, mainly in Sudan (72,500), Ethiopia (23,800), and Uganda (17,500). Other countries in sub-Saharan Africa affected by armed conflict or violence

- and thus source countries of new displacement

- during the reporting period included the Central
African Republic (56,200), Nigeria (31,200), and Sudan (22,100).

Contributions of Host Countries Two main measures – economic and non-economic **[(5)]**

- are used as a proxy to evaluate the contributions
of host countries with respect to refugee burdensharing. Using both measures, developing countries appeared to be shouldering a significant proportion of this burden.
According to the economic measure, the top 10 countries are all located in developing regions. **[(6)]** Similarly, according to the non-economic measure, of the top 10 countries, the first eight are developing nations, while those ranked 9 [th] and 10 [th] are industrialized countries.
Evaluating the impact of refugees by per capita **[(7)]** Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), **[(8)]** Ethiopia ranked at the top with 469 refugees per 1 USD. This indicates that Ethiopia is the largest refugee-hosting country in sub-Saharan Africa in both absolute and relative terms. With 322 refugees per 1 USD GDP (PPP) per capita, Pakistan ranked second, followed by Uganda (216), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (208), Chad (193), and Kenya (186) [ _see_ **Figure 4** ].
Examining the number of refugees per 1,000 inhabitants changes the rankings. Under this criterion, the impact of the Syria crisis is more visible, with Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey among the top five countries. With 209 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, Lebanon ranked at the top of the list, followed by Jordan with 90 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, Nauru (51), Chad (31), Turkey (24), and South Sudan (22) [ _see_ **Figure 5** ]. n

**(7)** Source for national populations: United Nations, Population Division, World
Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision, New York, 2015. For the purpose of this analysis, the 2014 estimates have been taken into account.

**(8)** Source for GDP (PPP): International Monetary Fund, World Economic
Outlook Database, October 2015 (accessed 10 November 2015).

Jordan Nauru Chad Turkey South Sudan Mauritania Djibouti Sweden Malta 90 51 31 24 22 19 17 15 15

**(5)** That is the size of a refugee population compared to the Gross Domestic
Product (Purchasing Power Parity) – the GDP (PPP) – per capita or to the national population size.

**(6)** See http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm for a list
of countries included under each region.

**8** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

World Economic
Outlook Database

World
Population Prospects

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

Population Division


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**Children play video games in a makeshift arcade in the Arbat camp** for internally displaced persons near
Sulaymaniya, Iraq in June 2015. The Arbat IDP camp is one of the most overcrowded in Iraq. Initially designed as a transit centre for only 700 families, the camp now houses close to 3,000 people. Solutions are nowhere in sight, water is in short supply, electricity is intermittent and the sanitation is inadequate.

III

**ASYLUM-SEEKERS**

Close to one million individual asylum applications were registered in 155 countries or territories during the first half of 2015, significantly more than during the corresponding period of 2014 (558,000). **[(9)]** An estimated 12 per cent of these claims were registered at ‘second instance’, including with courts and other appellate bodies. UNHCR offices registered 115,200 individual asylum applications, out of the provisional total of 993,600 (12%).

New Individual Asylum Applications Registered During the first half of the year, persons of at least 190 nationalities submitted new asylum applications in 155 asylum countries or territories around the world.

**(9)** The 2014 figure excludes asylum applications registered with South Africa’s
Department of Home Affairs, in the absence of such data provided by the Government.

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **9**

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


Input:
Asylum statistics in Europe: a word of caution The asylum figures for Europe quoted in this report should be treated with caution. The statistical picture of the number of people seeking international protection in Europe is partially distorted because of the reported instances of the same individual being registered as asylumseeker multiple times across the continent. The actual number of individuals lodging asylum applications in Europe is thus likely to be lower than described in this section.

At 159,900, Germany received the highest number of new asylum applications worldwide during the first six months of 2015. This compares to 173,100 asylum applications registered by the German authorities for the whole of 2014. At current trend, Germany is very likely to hit an all-time high in 2015. Historical data available since 1953 show that the previous record dates back to 1992, when 432,100 asylum applications were recorded by Germany [ _see_ **Figure 6** ]. **[(10)]** The sharp increase during the reporting period is attributable mainly to a higher number of individuals from Albania, Afghanistan, Iraq, Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)), **[(11)]** and the Syrian Arab Republic requesting international protection. Syrian asylum applications in Germany more than doubled from 12,100 in the first half of 2014 to 32,500 one year later. On average, one out of every five asylum claims in Germany was made by a Syrian national.

Germany was followed by the Russian Federation, which registered 100,000 asylum applications.
This figure includes 720 applications for refugee status and 99,300 for temporary asylum. The outbreak of conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014 continued to have a major impact on these figures, with 98,500 or 98 per cent of claims in the Russian Federation being lodged by Ukrainians.
The United States of America was the third-largest single recipient of new asylum claims during the first six months of 2015, with an estimated 78,200 **[(12)]** asylum claims. This constituted a 44 per cent increase (+23,800 claims) compared to the same period the previous year. Asylum-seekers from Honduras (+209%), El Salvador (+125%), Guatemala (+102%), and Mexico (+12%), among others, accounted for this increase – half of all asylum claims in the country were lodged by nationals of these countries, compared to 42 per cent for the whole of 2014. This proportion has consistently increased in recent years, reflecting the deteriorating situation as a result of violence generated by transnational organized crime, gang activity, and drug cartels in some parts of the region. Overall, El Salvador was

**(10)** The 1992 and earlier figures include a sizeable number of repeat
applications registered in Germany.

**(11)** References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security
Council Resolution 1244 (1999) and henceforth will be referred to in this document as Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)).

**(12)** Estimated number of individuals based on the number of new cases
(40,963) and multiplied by 1.393 to reflect the average number of individuals per case (Source: US Department of Homeland Security), and the number of new defensive asylum requests lodged with the Executive Office of Immigration Review (21,136 individuals).

Fig. 6 **New asylum applications registered in Germany ** | 1953-2015

450,000 400,000 350,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0

***** First half 2015. The 1992 and earlier figures include a sizeable number of repeat applications.

**10** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

Historical data


Input:
**Sisters Salma, 10 and Saima 7, look after baby Moustafa** while their
parents arrange their long-awaited return home to Afghanistan. Their family fled to Pakistan 35 years ago, and the children have never seen Afghanistan. They have big hopes for the future.

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **11**

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


Input:
Fig. 7 **Main destination countries for new**
**asylum-seekers ** | First half 2015

300 250 200 150 100 50 (x1,000) **2014 (total)** **First half 2015** 0

***** Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999))

the main country of origin of asylum-seekers to the United States of America with 8,700 applications, followed by Guatemala (7,700), Mexico (7,500), Honduras (7,400), and China (7,300).
Hungary ranked fourth with 65,400 new asylum applications registered during the first half of 2015.
This constituted a 13-fold increase compared to the first semester of 2014 (4,800 new applications) and a 79 per cent increase compared to the second (36,500). A large number of those applying for asylum in Hungary move onward to other countries in the European Union, where they are typically registered again as asylum-seekers.
A sharp shift in the composition and dynamics of registered asylum applications in Hungary was observed during the reporting period. The first quarter of 2015 was dominated by asylum applicants originating from Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)), with more than 22,800 persons lodging such a claim, yet this figure dropped to less than 500 during the second quarter.
In contrast, the second quarter in Hungary witnessed a soaring number of asylum applicants from Afghanistan (13,600 claims, up from 4,000 during the first quarter) and the Syrian Arab Republic (8,400, up from 2,400). These two countries together accounted for two-thirds of all asylum applications in Hungary during the second quarter.
Overall, Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)) was the main place of origin for asylum applicants in Hungary during the reporting period (23,300

**12** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

applications), followed by Afghanistan (17,600), the Syrian Arab Republic (10,800), and Iraq (3,200).
As of December 2015, close to 2.2 million registered Syrian refugees in Turkey benefitted from the Government’s Temporary Protection Regime. In addition, Turkey continued to witness high numbers of individual asylum applications registered with UNHCR. In Turkey, the Office registered 87,800 new asylum applications during 2014, the highest figure on record and almost double that of 2013 (44,800 claims). During the first half of 2015, more than 43,600 asylum applications were registered by UNHCR, making Turkey the fourthlargest recipient of individual asylum applications worldwide. **[(13)]** With 25,700 asylum claims, Iraqis accounted for more than half of these applications.
Other important source countries of asylum applications were Afghanistan (12,100 claims) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (4,300).
Other places receiving large numbers of asylum applicants were South Africa (37,800 new asylum claims), Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)) (37,400), Italy (30,100), and France (29,800).
During the first half of 2015, UNHCR’s offices registered 110,000 new individual applications for refugee status and another 5,200 on appeal or for review. The office in Turkey received the largest number of new requests (43,600), followed by Jordan (14,100), Lebanon (10,400), Egypt (8,800), and Malaysia (8,800). Of all UNHCR offices receiving asylum applications during the period under review, these five operations registered 78 per cent of new claims recorded by the organization.

By Origin As the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic entered its fifth year, Syrians remained the main group of asylum-seekers worldwide, with 114,500 new asylum applications registered during the first six months of 2015. This compares to 59,600 new asylum applications registered during the corresponding period of 2014. Syrians lodged asylum claims in 104 countries or territories worldwide, compared to 96 a year earlier. About two-thirds (67%) or 76,700 of these claims were registered in five places: Germany (32,500), Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)) (18,400), Hungary (10,800), Austria (7,700), and Sweden (7,200). Provisional data indicate that recognition rates for Syrians in most countries are

**(13)** This figure excludes the more than 250,000 Syrians who were registered by
the Government of Turkey during the first half of the year.


Input:
around or above 90 per cent, reflecting this group’s significant need for international protection.
As the conflict in eastern Ukraine continued into 2015, Ukrainians became the second-largest group of asylum-seekers, with 111,900 new asylum applications registered during the first half of 2015.
Most of these claims were recorded in the Russian Federation (98,500), Germany (2,600), and Italy (2,400). This compares to 20,300 new asylum applications one year earlier.
Afghanistan was the third-largest country of origin for asylum-seekers in the first half of 2015.
Afghans lodged some 72,100 asylum claims during the reporting period, significantly more than during the first half of 2014 (26,500). Hungary became an important recipient of Afghan asylum applications, with 17,600 new claims registered during the first half of 2015, an almost ninefold increase over the first half of 2014 (2,000 applications) and roughly triple the number registered during the second halfof 2014 (6,500). While Turkey remained an important destination for Afghans, with 12,100 asylum claims registered during the reporting period, Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)) became a major hotspot, as the Serbian authorities registered 10,900 Afghan asylum applications, compared to 420 one year earlier. Similar to Hungary, a large number of those applying for asylum in Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)) move onward to other European countries, where they are typically registered again as asylum-seekers.
Other important places of origin of asylumseekers were Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)) (70,200), Iraq (65,800), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (29,300), Albania (26,100), and Eritrea (22,300).
Some 2.3 million asylum applications were pending by mid-2015, about 219,100 more than at the beginning of the year. The largest backlog of registered asylum applications by June 2015 was in South Africa, with an estimated 798,100 applications. South Africa was followed by Germany (311,600 pending asylum applications), the United States of America (224,500), Turkey (145,300), and Sweden (56,100). n IV

**INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS**

Updated information on the global number of IDPs due to armed conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations was not available at the time of writing this report. **[(14)]** The IDP populations reported in this document are limited to conflict-generated IDPs or persons in an IDP-like situation, to whom the agency extends protection or assistance.
Hence, UNHCR’s statistics do not provide a comprehensive picture of global internal displacement.
According to UNHCR offices in 26 countries, the number of IDPs protected/assisted by UNHCR, including those in IDP-like situations, **[(15)]** stood at an estimated 34.0 million at mid-2015. This compares to 32.2 million at the start of the year.
During the first half of the year, at least 4.2 million persons were newly displaced by conflict and violence within their countries, compared to 4.1 million in the corresponding period of 2014.
Yemen reported the largest number of newly displaced persons (933,500), **[(16)]** followed by Ukraine (559,000), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (558,000), Nigeria (378,500), Iraq (366,500), and Pakistan (309,200).
The number of newly displaced persons within the Syrian Arab Republic was not available for the first six months of 2015. However, with 7.6 million IDPs, the Syrian Arab Republic remained the country with the highest such number worldwide. Despite security concerns, UNHCR was able to assist an estimated 1.3 million of these individuals by mid-2015.
According to the Government, 6.5 million individuals were registered as IDPs in Colombia at mid-year. Other countries where significant IDP populations were protected or assisted by UNHCR included Iraq (4.0 million), Sudan (2.3 million),

**(14)** The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimated the global number
of persons displaced by armed conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations at the end of 2014 to be some 38.2 million.

**(15)** As in Myanmar (35,000), South Sudan (105,000), and Sudan (77,300).

**(16)** The estimated number of IDPs in Yemen had reached 2.3 million at the
time of writing this report.

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **13**


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Fig. 8 **IDPs protected/assisted by UNHCR**
| 2000-2015 (end-year)

Pakistan (1.6 million), South Sudan (1.5 million), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1.5 million), **[(17)]** Nigeria (1.4 million), and Ukraine (1.4 million).
Afghanistan too has seen a surge in internal displacement of some 50 per cent compared to 18 months ago as conflict intensified, reaching a figure of 948,000 IDPs by mid-2015.
An estimated 1.4 million IDPs returned to their areas of origin during the first half of 2015, about 200,000 fewer than the corresponding period in 2014. Important IDP returns were reported by Pakistan and the Philippines with 336,600 and 334,900 individuals, respectively. Other countries that reported significant numbers of returned IDPs during the reporting period included the Democratic Republic of the Congo (193,800), South Sudan (148,500), the Central African Republic (138,800), and Nigeria (122,700). n

**(17)** Source: OCHA

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 (in millions)

***** Mid-2015

V

**STATELESS PERSONS**

The collection of accurate statistics on stateless persons has been and continues to be a challenge for all stakeholders. While the global number of stateless persons is estimated to be at least 10 million, available data in this report are limited to some 3.9 million persons in 78 countries or territories. This compares to the 3.5 million individuals reported at the end of 2014. This increase is mainly the result of the newly reported figure of around 300,000 persons in Zimbabwe, an estimation that largely concerns a migrant population that arrived from neighbouring countries as farm and mine workers during the colonial period. Multiple changes in the nationality legislation of Zimbabwe have negatively impacted the nationality status of this population.
In contrast, a downward revision in the stateless ness figure was reported in the Dominican Republic. This revised estimate of 133,770 stateless persons includes only individuals born in the country to parents who were both born abroad, and it does not include individuals born in the country to one foreign-born and one Dominican-born parent, as the previously reported figure of 210,000 did. This estimate does not include subsequent generations of individuals of foreign descent, as there is no reliable population data available on groups other than first-generation individuals. As such, this estimate does not include all persons without nationality in the country. It will be adjusted as official data becomes available on the number of individuals who have found an effective nationality solution under Law 169-14. n VI

**RESETTLEMENT**

During the first six months of the year, UNHCR assisted some 33,400 refugees in 76 countries or territories to depart for resettlement. This is a decline of about 3,600 individuals compared to the

**14** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

corresponding period of 2014 (37,000). The top five countries that reported significant UNHCRassisted resettlement departures were Malaysia (5,700), Turkey (3,800), Thailand (3,100), Nepal

stateless ness


Input:
(2,600), and Lebanon (2,400). These five countries combined accounted for about half of all assisted resettlement departures during the reporting period.
Individuals holding some 62 different nationalities benefited from UNHCR’s resettlement programme during the first half of 2015. Refugees originating from Myanmar constituted the largest number (8,600), followed by those from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (4,700), the Syrian Arab Republic (4,000), Iraq (3,700), and Somalia (3,500). Combined, persons from these five countries accounted for 73 per cent of all UNHCRassisted resettlement departures. n VII

**REFUGEE RETURNS**

To some extent, voluntary returns of refugees to their country of origin can be an indication of stability and safety in those countries. Following this logic, it is tempting to assume that the number of refugee returns is proportional to the level of safety prevailing in their country of origin, as refugees are expected to return under conditions of safety and in dignity. This is not always the case, however.
The number of returning refugees has remained fairly low in recent years. An estimated 84,400 individuals returned during the first half of 2015, compared to 107,000 during the same period in 2014. While the overall number of refugee returns in 2014 (126,800) was already the lowest in more than three decades, current trends indicate that 2015 figures may even be lower. Some 63,800 of those who had returned by mid-2015 did so with UNHCR assistance.
UNHCR offices in 28 countries reported the return of refugees, with the largest numbers returning to Afghanistan (46,100), Somalia (19,000), Sudan (3,900), and Iraq (3,300). Together, these four countries of origin accounted for 85 per cent of all returnees. Countries with the highest number of refugee departures, meanwhile, included Pakistan (44,700), Yemen (16,500), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5,100), and Chad (4,900). n UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **15**

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


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annex TABLE 1 **Refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (refugees and IDPs),**
**stateless persons, and others of concern to UNHCR by country/territory of asylum **
| mid-2015 (or latest available estimates)
All data are provisional and subject to change.

REFUGEES Others of concern to UNHCR **[9]** Of whom assisted by UNHCR Returned refugees **[5]** Total refugees and people in refugee-like situations Asylumseekers (pending cases) **[4]** Country/ territory of asylum **[1]** People in and people in Of whom seekers UNHCR, incl. UNHCR’s Others of Total refugee-like refugee-like assisted by (pending Returned people in IDP- Returned statelessness concern to population Refugees **[2]** situations **[3]** situations UNHCR cases) **[4]** refugees **[5]** **[6]** IDPs **[7]** mandate **[8]** UNHCR **[9]** of concern People in refugee-like situations **[3]** Persons under UNHCR’s statelessness mandate **[8]** IDPs protected/ assisted by UNHCR, incl.
people in IDPlike situations **[6]** Returned IDPs **[7]** Afghanistan 205,558 20,156 225,714 _225,714_ 101 46,148 947,872 300 - 201,284 1,421,419 Albania 154 - 154 _154_ 501 - - - 7,443 - 8,098 Algeria **[10]** 94,144 - 94,144 _90,139_ 5,892 - - - - - 100,036 Angola 15,572 - 15,572 _54_ 30,086 2,887 - - - - 48,545 Antigua

-                    -                    - _-_ 10                    -                    -                    -                    -                    - 10
and Barbuda Argentina 3,523 - 3,523 _113_ 897 - - - - - 4,420 Armenia 3,240 12,450 15,690 _7,297_ 114 - - - 238 - 16,042 Aruba - - - _-_ 2 - - - - - 2 Australia **[11]** 35,582 - 35,582 _-_ 22,837 - - - - - 58,419 Austria **[12]** 60,747 - 60,747 _-_ 30,900 - - - 570 - 92,217 Azerbaijan 1,357 - 1,357 _1,357_ 262 - 622,892 - 3,585 - 628,096 Bahamas 7 - 7 _7_ 19 - - - - 30 56 Bahrain 277 - 277 _277_ 78 - - - - - 355 Bangladesh **[13]** 32,975 200,000 232,975 _32,975_ 11 - - - - - 232,986 Barbados 1 - 1 _1_ - - - - - - 1 Belarus 1,369 - 1,369 _617_ 257 - - - 6,302 - 7,928 Belgium 31,115 - 31,115 _-_ 9,396 - - - 5,267 - 45,778 Belize - - - _-_ 146 - - - - - 146 Benin 488 - 488 _488_ 84 - - - - - 572 Bolivia (Plurinational 767 - 767 _153_ 8 - - - - - 775 State of) Bonaire, Saint

-                    -                    - _-_                    -                    -                    -                    -                    -                    -                    Eustatius and Saba
Bosnia and 6,805 - 6,805 _6,805_ 11 19 84,500 - 79 52,437 143,851 Herzegovina Botswana 2,164 - 2,164 _2,164_ 248 - - - - - 2,412 Brazil 7,762 - 7,762 _708_ 17,902 - - - 2 40,336 66,002 British Virgin Islands - - - _-_ - - - - - - Brunei Darussalam - - - _-_ - - - - 20,524 - 20,524 Bulgaria **[14]** 11,046 - 11,046 _11,046_ 7,840 - - - 67 - 18,953 Burkina Faso 34,027 - 34,027 _34,027_ 180 - - - - - 34,207 Burundi 54,126 - 54,126 _54,126_ 2,733 11 78,948 - 1,302 590 137,710 Cabo Verde - - - _-_ - - - - 115 - 115 Cambodia 80 - 80 _76_ 33 - - - - 131 244 Cameroon 288,552 13,741 302,293 _289,806_ 7,835 - 81,693 - - - 391,821 Canada **[14]** 149,163 - 149,163 _-_ 14,481 - - - - - 163,644 Cayman Islands 6 - 6 _6_ 1 - - - - 100 107 Central African Rep. 7,906 - 7,906 _7,170_ 394 1,220 368,859 138,825 - - 517,204 Chad 420,774 - 420,774 _420,774_ 2,749 - - - - 50,000 473,523 Chile 1,798 - 1,798 _55_ 719 - - - - - 2,517 China **[15]** 301,057 - 301,057 _150_ 564 - - - - - 301,621 China, 151 - 151 _151_ 9,940 - - - 1 - 10,092 Hong Kong SAR China, Macao SAR - - - _-_ 6 - - - - - 6 Colombia 219 - 219 _33_ 56 22 6,520,270 - 12 - 6,520,579 Comoros - - - _-_ - - - - - - Congo, Republic of 61,492 - 61,492 _61,492_ 3,248 1 - - - 1,069 65,810 Costa Rica 3,475 - 3,475 _3,469_ 1,819 - - - 2,613 - 7,907 Côte d’Ivoire 1,972 - 1,972 _1,972_ 667 74 24,000 - 700,000 57 726,770 Croatia 669 41 710 _710_ 90 24 - - 2,886 13,774 17,484 Cuba 313 - 313 _172_ 12 - - - - - 325 Curaçao 44 - 44 _44_ 41 - - - - - 85 Cyprus **[16]** 5,763 - 5,763 _-_ 2,339 - - - - 6,000 14,102 Czech Rep. **[14]** 3,137 - 3,137 _-_ 409 - - - 1,502 - 5,048 Dem. Rep. of 160,271 - 160,271 _131,686_ 1,124 3,230 1,491,769 193,841 - 150,771 2,001,006 the Congo **[17]** Denmark **[14]** 17,785 - 17,785 _-_ 4,566 - - - 4,984 - 27,335 Djibouti 14,787 - 14,787 _14,787_ 2,586 - - - - - 17,373 Dominica - - - _-_ - - - - - - Dominican Rep. **[18]** 609 - 609 _609_ 752 - - - 133,770 - 135,131 Ecuador **[12]** 53,378 68,344 121,722 _53,378_ 11,583 - - - - - 133,305 Egypt 226,344 - 226,344 _226,344_ 30,019 - - - 21 - 256,384 El Salvador 48 - 48 _13_ - - - - - - 48 Equatorial Guinea - - - _-_ - - - - - - Eritrea 2,944 - 2,944 _2,944_ 1 1 - - - 21 2,967 Estonia **[19]** 117 - 117 _-_ 117 - - - 86,522 - 86,756 Ethiopia 702,467 - 702,467 _702,467_ 2,871 2 - - - 346 705,686 Fiji 12 - 12 _12_ 8 - - - - - 20 Finland **[14]** 11,798 - 11,798 _-_ 2,622 - - - 1,928 - 16,348 ... /...

**16** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


Input:
annex TABLE 1

**Refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (refugees and IDPs),**
**stateless persons, and others of concern to UNHCR by country/territory of asylum **
| mid-2015 (or latest available estimates) (ctnd)
All data are provisional and subject to change.

REFUGEES Others of concern to UNHCR **[9]** Of whom assisted by UNHCR Returned refugees **[5]** Total refugees and people in refugee-like situations Asylumseekers (pending cases) **[4]** Country/ territory of asylum **[1]** People in and people in Of whom seekers UNHCR, incl. UNHCR’s Others of Total refugee-like refugee-like assisted by (pending Returned people in IDP- Returned statelessness concern to population Refugees **[2]** situations **[3]** situations UNHCR cases) **[4]** refugees **[5]** **[6]** IDPs **[7]** mandate **[8]** UNHCR **[9]** of concern People in refugee-like situations **[3]** Persons under UNHCR’s statelessness mandate **[8]** IDPs protected/ assisted by UNHCR, incl.
people in IDPlike situations **[6]** Returned IDPs **[7]** France 264,972 - 264,972 _-_ 53,827 - - - 1,290 - 320,089 Gabon 1,008 - 1,008 _1,008_ 1,886 - - - - - 2,894 Gambia 11,773 - 11,773 _11,773_ 2 - - - - - 11,775 Georgia 1,060 599 1,659 _1,659_ 587 - 265,267 - 793 - 268,306 Germany 250,299 - 250,299 _-_ 311,551 - - - 11,978 - 573,828 Ghana 18,476 - 18,476 _18,476_ 2,855 - - - - - 21,331 Greece 7,304 927 8,231 _-_ 29,157 - - - 214 - 37,602 Grenada - - - _-_ - - - - - - Guatemala 202 - 202 _87_ 73 - - - - - 275 Guinea 8,704 - 8,704 _8,704_ 293 - - - - - 8,997 Guinea-Bissau 8,684 - 8,684 _8,684_ 123 - - - - - 8,807 Guyana 11 - 11 _11_ 1 - - - - - 12 Haiti 5 - 5 _-_ 5 - - - - - 10 Honduras 23 - 23 _11_ 19 - - - - - 42 Hungary 4,192 - 4,192 _-_ 24,431 - - - 128 - 28,751 Iceland 104 - 104 _-_ 225 - - - 119 - 448 India 200,383 - 200,383 _26,799_ 5,381 - - - - - 205,764 Indonesia 5,277 - 5,277 _5,277_ 7,911 - - - - - 13,188 Iran (Islamic Rep. of) 979,441 - 979,441 _979,441_ 42 8 - - - - 979,491 Iraq **[20]** 288,035 - 288,035 _288,035_ 7,420 3,318 3,962,142 716 50,000 29 4,311,660 Ireland **[14]** 5,853 - 5,853 _-_ 4,300 - - - 99 - 10,252 Israel 361 38,139 38,500 _5,348_ 6,591 - - - 88 - 45,179 Italy **[14]** 93,715 - 93,715 _-_ 48,307 - - - 606 - 142,628 Jamaica 15 - 15 _15_ 3 - - - - - 18 Japan **[21]** 2,419 - 2,419 _412_ 10,705 - - - 631 - 13,755 Jordan **[22]** 664,102 - 664,102 _664,102_ 20,693 - - - - - 684,795 Kazakhstan 662 - 662 _662_ 149 - - - 7,038 - 7,849 Kenya 552,272 - 552,272 _552,272_ 40,341 1,231 - - 20,000 - 613,844 Kuwait 593 - 593 _593_ 1,040 - - - 93,000 - 94,633 Kyrgyzstan 433 - 433 _433_ 168 - - - 13,678 - 14,279 Lao People’s

-                    -                    - _-_                    -                    -                    -                    -                    -                    -                    Dem. Rep.

Latvia **[23]** 195 - 195 _-_ 171 - - - 262,802 - 263,168 Lebanon 1,172,388 - 1,172,388 _1,172,388_ 10,851 - - - - 5,813 1,189,052 Lesotho 44 - 44 _-_ 1 - - - - - 45 Liberia 38,904 - 38,904 _38,904_ 18 6 - - 1 1,479 40,408 Libya 27,948 - 27,948 _27,948_ 8,904 - 434,869 - - - 471,721 Liechtenstein 107 - 107 _-_ 75 - - - 2 - 184 Lithuania 1,055 - 1,055 _-_ 54 - - - 3,583 - 4,692 Luxembourg 1,192 - 1,192 _-_ 831 - - - 81 - 2,104 Madagascar 10 - 10 _10_ 9 - - - - - 19 Malawi 8,963 - 8,963 _8,963_ 13,669 - - - - - 22,632 Malaysia 97,385 188 97,573 _97,573_ 54,400 - - - 40,000 80,000 271,973 Mali 14,970 - 14,970 _14,486_ 386 740 90,218 41,995 - - 148,309 Malta 6,095 - 6,095 _-_ 425 - - - - - 6,520 Mauritania 50,851 26,000 76,851 _50,851_ 407 - - - - - 77,258 Mauritius - - - _-_ - - - - - - Mexico 2,158 - 2,158 _212_ - - - - 13 55 2,226 Micronesia (Federated - - - _-_ 34 - - - - - 34 States of) Monaco 33 - 33 _-_ - - - - - - 33 Mongolia 11 - 11 _11_ 5 - - - 16 - 32 Montenegro 6,203 - 6,203 _6,203_ 7 - - - 3,284 10,318 19,812 Montserrat - - - _-_ - - - - - - Morocco 2,144 - 2,144 _2,144_ 2,216 - - - - - 4,360 Mozambique 4,552 - 4,552 _2,482_ 14,257 - - - - 7 18,816 Myanmar **[24]** - - - _-_ - 1 368,500 8,000 1,090,000 - 1,466,501 Namibia 1,659 - 1,659 _1,468_ 1,100 5 - - - 1,679 4,443 Nauru 506 - 506 _-_ 816 - - - - - 1,322 Nepal **[25]** 36,287 - 36,287 _21,287_ 57 - - - - 409 36,753 Netherlands **[14]** 82,494 - 82,494 _-_ 8,097 - - - 1,951 - 92,542 New Zealand **[14]** 1,349 - 1,349 _-_ 251 - - - - - 1,600 Nicaragua 361 - 361 _81_ 25 2 - - 1 2 391 Niger 82,064 - 82,064 _82,064_ 122 - 50,000 - - 70,000 202,186 Nigeria 1,279 - 1,279 _1,279_ 909 - 1,385,298 122,719 - - 1,510,205 Norway **[14]** 47,043 - 47,043 _-_ 5,885 - - - 1,997 - 54,925 Oman 122 - 122 _122_ 268 - - - - - 390 Pakistan 1,540,854 - 1,540,854 _1,540,854_ 6,103 2 1,556,400 336,606 - - 3,439,965 ... /...

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **17**

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


Input:
annex TABLE 1

**Refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (refugees and IDPs),**
**stateless persons, and others of concern to UNHCR by country/territory of asylum **
| mid-2015 (or latest available estimates) (ctnd)
All data are provisional and subject to change.

REFUGEES Others of concern to UNHCR **[9]** Of whom assisted by UNHCR Returned refugees **[5]** Total refugees and people in refugee-like situations Asylumseekers (pending cases) **[4]** Country/ territory of asylum **[1]** People in and people in Of whom seekers UNHCR, incl. UNHCR’s Others of Total refugee-like refugee-like assisted by (pending Returned people in IDP- Returned statelessness concern to population Refugees **[2]** situations **[3]** situations UNHCR cases) **[4]** refugees **[5]** **[6]** IDPs **[7]** mandate **[8]** UNHCR **[9]** of concern People in refugee-like situations **[3]** Persons under UNHCR’s statelessness mandate **[8]** IDPs protected/ assisted by UNHCR, incl.
people in IDPlike situations **[6]** Returned IDPs **[7]** Palau 1 - 1 _1_ - - - - - - 1 Panama 2,303 15,000 17,303 _330_ 2,038 - - - 2 - 19,343 Papua New Guinea 4,929 4,581 9,510 _-_ 400 - - - - - 9,910 Paraguay 161 - 161 _24_ 39 - - - - - 200 Peru 1,407 - 1,407 _39_ 366 - - - - - 1,773 Philippines 254 - 254 _17_ 163 - 42,171 334,888 8,619 68 386,163 Poland **[14]** 15,741 - 15,741 _-_ 2,470 - - - 10,825 - 29,036 Portugal **[14]** 699 - 699 _-_ 641 - - - 14 - 1,354 Qatar 133 - 133 _133_ 100 - - - 1,200 - 1,433 Rep. of Korea 1,313 - 1,313 _394_ 5,102 - - - 200 - 6,615 Rep. of Moldova 389 - 389 _389_ 164 - - - 6,233 - 6,786 Romania 2,426 - 2,426 _156_ 138 - - - 294 - 2,858 Russian Federation **[26]** 315,313 - 315,313 _3,596_ 2,423 - - - 113,474 - 431,210 Rwanda 132,743 - 132,743 _132,743_ 253 2,196 - - - 361 135,553 Saint Kitts and Nevis 1 - 1 _1_ - - - - - - 1 Saint Lucia 2 - 2 _2_ 2 - - - - 60 64 Saint Vincent and

-                    -                    - _-_                    -                    -                    -                    -                    -                    -                    the Grenadines
Sao Tome and

-                    -                    - _-_                    -                    -                    -                    -                    -                    -                    Principe

Saudi Arabia 184 27 211 _211_ 93 - - - 70,000 - 70,304 Senegal 14,304 - 14,304 _14,304_ 2,956 - - - - - 17,260 Serbia and Kosovo 35,309 - 35,309 _7,360_ 464 73 220,227 159 3,490 - 259,722 (S/RES/1244 (1999)) Sierra Leone 1,371 - 1,371 _458_ 16 - - - - - 1,387 Singapore - - - _-_ - - - - - 1 1 Sint Maarten 3 - 3 _3_ 5 - - - - - 8 (Dutch part) Slovakia **[14]** 799 - 799 _-_ 61 - - - 1,523 148 2,531 Slovenia 283 - 283 _-_ 43 - - - 4 - 330 Solomon Islands 3 - 3 _3_ - - - - - - 3 Somalia 3,582 - 3,582 _3,582_ 9,320 19,004 1,133,000 - - 69 1,164,975 South Africa 114,512 - 114,512 _11,451_ 798,080 - - - - - 912,592 South Sudan **[27]** 265,887 - 265,887 _265,887_ 632 - 1,643,484 148,530 - - 2,058,533 Spain **[14]** 5,798 - 5,798 _-_ 11,020 - - - 440 - 17,258 Sri Lanka **[28]** 848 - 848 _848_ 461 231 50,268 - - - 51,808 State of Palestine - - - _-_ - 3 - - - - 3 Sudan **[29]** 322,638 33,553 356,191 _268,262_ 11,448 3,896 2,342,979 50,105 - 3,290 2,767,909 Suriname 1 - 1 _1_ - - - - - - 1 Swaziland 539 - 539 _127_ 321 - - - - 4 864 Sweden **[14]** 142,207 - 142,207 _-_ 56,135 - - - 27,167 - 225,509 Switzerland 69,390 - 69,390 _-_ 17,085 - - - 76 - 86,551 Syrian Arab Rep. **[30]** 149,200 - 149,200 _26,527_ 4,839 - 7,632,500 - 160,000 - 7,946,539 Tajikistan **[31]** 1,782 - 1,782 _1,350_ 79 - - - 10,051 31 11,943 Thailand **[32]** 56,947 53,425 110,372 _110,372_ 8,166 - - - 506,197 521 625,256 The former Yugoslav Republic 584 244 828 _828_ 43 - - - 717 - 1,588 of Macedonia Timor-Leste - - - _-_ - - - - - 5 5 Togo 21,877 - 21,877 _13,414_ 687 - - - - - 22,564 Tonga - - - _-_ - - - - - - Trinidad and Tobago 121 - 121 _121_ 59 - - - - - 180 Tunisia 824 - 824 _822_ 156 - - - - 3 983 Turkey **[33]** 1,838,848 - 1,838,848 _1,838,848_ 145,335 - - - 780 306 1,985,269 Turkmenistan 27 - 27 _27_ - - - - 7,144 - 7,171 Turcs and 4 - 4 _4_ 4 - - - - - 8 Caicos Islands Uganda 428,397 - 428,397 _428,397_ 38,068 - - - - 180,000 646,465 Ukraine 3,232 - 3,232 _459_ 6,169 - 1,382,000 - 35,179 - 1,426,580 United Arab 424 - 424 _424_ 378 - - - - - 802 Emirates United Kingdom **[14]** 117,234 - 117,234 _-_ 37,829 - - - 16 - 155,079 United Rep. of 159,014 - 159,014 _136,787_ 1,150 - - - - 168,019 328,183 Tanzania United States of 267,222 - 267,222 _-_ 224,508 - - - - - 491,730 America **[34]** Uruguay 289 - 289 _73_ 68 - - - - - 357 Uzbekistan **[35]** 118 - 118 _118_ - - - - 86,703 - 86,821 Vanuatu - - - _-_ 1 - - - - - 1 ... /...

**18** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


Input:
annex TABLE 1

**Refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (refugees and IDPs),**
**stateless persons, and others of concern to UNHCR by country/territory of asylum **
| mid-2015 (or latest available estimates) (ctnd)
All data are provisional and subject to change.

REFUGEES Others of concern to UNHCR **[9]** Of whom assisted by UNHCR Returned refugees **[5]** Total refugees and people in refugee-like situations Asylumseekers (pending cases) **[4]** Country/ territory of asylum **[1]** People in and people in Of whom seekers UNHCR, incl. UNHCR’s Others of Total refugee-like refugee-like assisted by (pending Returned people in IDP- Returned statelessness concern to population Refugees **[2]** situations **[3]** situations UNHCR cases) **[4]** refugees **[5]** **[6]** IDPs **[7]** mandate **[8]** UNHCR **[9]** of concern People in refugee-like situations **[3]** IDPs protected/ assisted by UNHCR, incl.
people in IDPlike situations **[6]** Returned IDPs **[7]** Persons under UNHCR’s statelessness mandate **[8]** Venezuela (Bolivarian 5,647 168,544 174,191 _34,164_ 704 - - - - - 174,895 Republic of) Viet Nam - - - _-_ - - - - 11,000 - 11,000 Yemen 263,047 - 263,047 _118,338_ 9,902 - 1,267,590 - - - 1,540,539 Zambia 25,737 - 25,737 _25,737_ 2,606 - - - - 23,415 51,758 Zimbabwe **[36]** 6,085 - 6,085 _6,085_ 123 10 - - 300,000 1,873 308,091
**Total** **14,441,674** **655,959** **15,097,633** **11,482,891** **2,343,919** **84,365** **34,047,716** **1,376,684** **3,944,474** **1,064,911** **57,959,702**

UNHCR-Bureaux ~~- Central Africa-~~ 865,112 13,741 878,853 _814,818_ 18,623 6,658 2,021,269 332,666 1,302 320,810 3,580,181 Great Lakes ~~- East and Horn~~ 2,713,748 33,553 2,747,301 _2,659,372_ 108,016 24,134 5,119,463 198,635 20,000 233,726 8,451,275 of Africa

- Southern Africa 179,837 - 179,837 _58,541_ 860,500 2,902 - - 300,000 26,978 1,370,217

- Western Africa 258,893 - 258,893 _249,033_ 9,298 820 1,549,516 164,714 700,116 71,536 2,754,893
Total Africa 4,017,590 47,294 4,064,884 _3,781,764_ 996,437 34,514 8,690,248 696,015 1,021,418 653,050 16,156,566 Asia and Pacific 3,506,644 278,350 3,784,994 _3,044,957_ 133,894 46,390 2,965,211 679,794 1,801,802 282,450 9,694,535 Middle East and 2,941,121 64,166 3,005,287 _2,674,746_ 109,847 3,321 13,297,101 716 374,309 5,845 16,796,426 North Africa Europe 3,475,270 14,261 3,489,531 _1,887,484_ 827,374 116 2,574,886 159 610,532 82,983 7,585,581 Americas 501,049 251,888 752,937 _93,940_ 276,367 24 6,520,270 - 136,413 40,583 7,726,594
**Total** **14,441,674** **655,959** **15,097,633** **11,482,891** **2,343,919** **84,365** **34,047,716** **1,376,684** **3,944,474** **1,064,911** **57,959,702**

UN major regions Africa 4,419,845 73,294 4,493,139 _4,180,012_ 1,044,031 34,514 9,125,117 696,015 1,021,439 653,053 17,067,308 Asia 7,853,396 324,984 8,178,380 _7,170,600_ 320,437 49,711 16,715,602 680,510 2,181,486 294,598 28,420,724 Europe 1,625,002 1,212 1,626,214 _38,323_ 678,737 116 1,686,727 159 605,136 76,677 4,673,766 Latin America and 84,664 251,888 336,552 _93,940_ 37,378 24 6,520,270 - 136,413 40,583 7,071,220 the Caribbean Northern America 416,385 - 416,385 _-_ 238,989 - - - - - 655,374 Oceania 42,382 4,581 46,963 _16_ 24,347 - - - - - 71,310
**Total** **14,441,674** **655,959** **15,097,633** **11,482,891** **2,343,919** **84,365** **34,047,716** **1,376,684** **3,944,474** **1,064,911** **57,959,702**

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **19**

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015


Input:
**Notes**
The data are generally provided by Governments, based on their own definitions and methods of data collection.
A dash (“-”) indicates that the value is zero, not available or not applicable.

**1** Country or territory of asylum or residence.

**2** Persons recognized as refugees under the 1951 UN Convention/1967 Protocol, the 1969 OAU
Convention, in accordance with the UNHCR Statute, persons granted a complementary form of protection and those granted temporary protection. In the absence of Government figures, UNHCR has estimated the refugee population in many industrialized countries based on 10 years of individual asylum-seeker recognition.

**3** This category is descriptive in nature and includes groups of persons who are outside their
country or territory of origin and who face protection risks similar to those of refugees, but for whom refugee status has, for practical or other reasons, not been ascertained.

**4** Persons whose application for asylum or refugee status is pending at any stage in the asylum
procedure.

**5** Refugees who have returned to their place of origin during the first half of 2015. Source:
country of origin and asylum.

**6** Persons who are displaced within their country and to whom UNHCR extends protection
and/or assistance. It also includes people in IDP-like situations. This category is descriptive in nature and includes groups of persons who are inside their country of nationality or habitual residence and who face protection risks similar to those of IDPs but who, for practical or other reasons, could not be reported as such.

**7** IDPs protected/assisted by UNHCR who have returned to their place of origin during the first
half of 2015.

**8** Refers to persons who are not considered as nationals by any State under the operation
of its law. This category refers to persons who fall under the agency’s statelessness mandate because they are stateless according to this international definition, but data from some countries may also include persons with undetermined nationality.

**9** Refers to individuals who do not necessarily fall directly into any of the other groups but to
whom UNHCR may extend its protection and/or assistance services. These activities might be based on humanitarian or other special grounds.

**10** According to the Government of Algeria, there are an estimated 165,000 Sahrawi refugees in
the Tindouf camps.

**11** Australia’s figures for asylum-seekers are based on the number of applications lodged for
protection visas. Refugee figure refers to the end of 2014.

**12** All figures relate to the end of 2014.

**13** The refugee population includes 200,000 persons originating from Myanmar in a refugeelike situation. The Government of Bangladesh estimates the population to be between
300,000 and 500,000.

**14** Refugee population relates to the end of 2014.

**15** The 300,000 Vietnamese refugees are well integrated and in practice receive protection
from the Government of China.

**16** UNHCR’s assistance activities for IDPs in Cyprus ended in 1999. Visit the website of the
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) for further information.

**17** The number of Rwandan refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is subject to
change based on a registration exercise carried out in 2014 that resulted in a figure of 243,000 identified Rwandans, as well as a biometric registration exercise. UNOCHA revised the IDP figure in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from more than 2.7 million at the end of 2014 to 1.5 million at mid-2015.

**18** A previous estimate of 210,000 individuals was based on a national survey released by the
National Bureau for Statistics in 2013 concerning individuals born in the country to foreign parents. According to official information released by the Dominican Government in 2015, this estimate actually included a significant number of individuals born in the country to a Dominican-born parent (i.e., a parent who may be a Dominican national). The revised estimate includes only individuals born in the country where both parents were born abroad. This estimate does not include subsequent generations of individuals of foreign descent, as there is no reliable population data available concerning those other than first generation individuals, and as such it does not include all persons without nationality. Finally, it should be noted that the revised estimate will be adjusted as official data becomes available on the number of individuals who have found an effective nationality solution under Law 169-14.

**20** UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015

**19** Almost all people recorded as being stateless have permanent residence and enjoy more
rights than foreseen in the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

**20** Pending a more accurate study into statelessness in Iraq, the estimate of stateless persons
in Iraq has been adjusted to reflect the reduction of statelessness in line with Law 26 of 2006, which allows stateless persons to apply for nationality in certain circumstances.

**21** Figures are UNHCR estimates.

**22** Includes 32,800 Iraqi refugees registered with UNHCR in Jordan. The Government estimated
the number of Iraqis at 400,000 individuals at the end of March 2015. This included refugees and other categories of Iraqis.

**23** The figure of stateless persons includes persons covered by two separate Laws. 180 fall
under the Republic of Latvia’s Law on Stateless Persons on 17 February 2004, which replaced the Law on the Status of Stateless Persons in the Republic of Latvia of 18 February 1999, and which determines the legal status of persons who are not considered as citizens by the legislation of any State and whose status is not determined by the 25th April 1995 Law (quoted below). 262,622 of the persons reported in this table fall under the Republic of Latvia’s 25 April 1995 Law on the Status of Those Former USSR Citizens who are not Citizens of Latvia or of Any Other State, and are granted a transitional legal status to permanently residing persons (non-citizens) entitling them to a set of rights and obligations beyond the minimum rights prescribed by the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. According to the Latvian authorities, “Non-citizens of Latvia is the only category of residents who are not Latvian citizens, but who enjoy the right to reside in Latvia ex lege (all others require a resident permit) and an immediate right to acquire citizenship through registration and/or naturalisation (depending on age).”

**24** This figure is an estimate of persons without any citizenship in Rakhine state derived from
the 2014 census. It does not include an estimated 175,000 IDPs, persons in an IDP-like situation and IDP returnees who are also of concern under the statelessness mandate because they are already included among the IDP figure.

**25** Various studies estimate that a large number of individuals lack citizenship certificates
in Nepal. While these individuals are not all necessarily stateless, UNHCR has been working closely with the Government of Nepal and partners to address this situation.

**26** Stateless persons refers to census figure from 2010 adjusted to reflect the number of
people who acquired nationality in 2011-2014.

**27** IDP figure in South Sudan includes 105,000 people who are in an IDP-like situation.

**28** The statistics of the remaining IDPs as at mid-2015, while provided by the Government
authorities at the district level, are being reviewed by the central authorities. Once this review has been concluded, the statistics will be changed accordingly.

**29** IDP figure in Sudan includes 77,300 people who are in an IDP-like situation.

**30** Refugee figure for Iraqis in the Syrian Arab Republic is a Government estimate. UNHCR has
registered and is assisting 23,500 Iraqis at mid-2015.

**31** Figure refers to a registration exercise in three regions and 637 persons registered as
stateless by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan.

**32** Figure of stateless persons in Thailand refers to 2011.

**33** Refugee figure for Syrians in Turkey is a Government estimate.

**34** The refugee figure for the United States of America is currently under review, which may
lead to an adjustment in future reports. Refugee figure relates to the end of 2014.

**35** Figure of stateless persons refers to those with permanent residence reported in 2010 by
the Government. Information on other categories of stateless persons is not available.

**36** The figure is an estimate and currently under review.
Source: UNHCR/Governments.

2014 census

national survey

national survey


Input:
annex TABLE 2 Origin **[1]**

**Refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (refugees and IDPs),**
**stateless persons, and others of concern to UNHCR by origin**
| mid-2015 (or latest available estimates)
All data are provisional and subject to change.

REFUGEES Returned IDPs **[7]** of whom: UNHCRassisted Others of concern to UNHCR **[9]** People in and people in of whom: seekers people in UNHCR’s Others of Total refugee-like refugee-like UNHCR- (pending Returned IDP-like Returned statelessness concern to population Refugees **[2]** situations **[3]** situations assisted cases) **[4]** refugees **[5]** situations **[6]** IDPs **[7]** mandate **[8]** UNHCR **[9]** of concern People in refugee-like situations **[3]** Total refugees and people in refugee-like situations Asylumseekers (pending cases) **[4]** Returned refugees **[5]** IDPs protected/ assisted by UNHCR, incl.
people in IDP-like situations **[6]** Persons under UNHCR’s statelessness mandate **[8]** Afghanistan 2,632,534 - 2,632,534 _2,514,874_ 106,972 46,148 947,872 300 - 201,315 3,935,141 Albania 10,463 - 10,463 _6_ 34,550 - - - - - 45,013 Algeria 3,541 - 3,541 _68_ 6,259 - - - - 18 9,818 Andorra 7 - 7 _-_ 1 - - - - - 8 Angola 9,550 - 9,550 _1,122_ 2,226 2,887 - - - 62,413 77,076 Anguilla 1 - 1 _-_ - - - - - - 1 Antigua and Barbuda 53 - 53 _-_ 16 - - - - - 69 Argentina 312 - 312 _3_ 131 - - - - - 443 Armenia 11,891 - 11,891 _72_ 6,834 - - - - 12 18,737 Australia 18 - 18 _-_ 9 - - - - - 27 Austria 9 - 9 _-_ 12 - - - - - 21 Azerbaijan 10,579 - 10,579 _1,590_ 4,845 - 622,892 - - 1 638,317 Bahamas 215 - 215 _-_ 58 - - - - - 273 Bahrain 373 - 373 _17_ 107 - - - - 7 487 Bangladesh 11,108 1 11,109 _212_ 28,150 - - - - 12 39,271 Barbados 86 - 86 _-_ 32 - - - - - 118 Belarus 4,299 - 4,299 _16_ 1,108 - - - - 1 5,408 Belgium 76 - 76 _-_ 14 - - - - - 90 Belize 45 - 45 _-_ 38 - - - - - 83 Benin 352 - 352 _1_ 873 - - - - - 1,225 Bermuda - - - _-_ 3 - - - - - 3 Bhutan 21,392 - 21,392 _20,818_ 194 - - - - - 21,586 Bolivia 593 - 593 _11_ 291 - - - - - 884 (Plurinational State of) Bosnia and 19,587 41 19,628 _3,111_ 6,284 19 84,500 - - 52,438 162,869 Herzegovina Botswana 236 - 236 _-_ 116 - - - - - 352 Brazil 971 - 971 _5_ 1,472 - - - - - 2,443 British Virgin Islands - - - _-_ - - - - - - Brunei Darussalam 1 - 1 _-_ 1 - - - - - 2 Bulgaria 1,631 - 1,631 _2_ 248 - - - - 1 1,880 Burkina Faso 1,862 - 1,862 _21_ 2,049 - - - - 1 3,912 Burundi 217,360 - 217,360 _185,057_ 24,157 11 78,948 - - 163,497 483,973 Cabo Verde 27 - 27 _-_ 90 - - - - - 117 Cambodia 12,939 9 12,948 _174_ 272 - - - - - 13,220 Cameroon 10,854 - 10,854 _406_ 6,116 - 81,693 - - 4 98,667 Canada 87 - 87 _1_ 67 - - - - 6 160 Cayman Islands 6 - 6 _-_ - - - - - - 6 Central African Rep. 469,314 1,254 470,568 _468,913_ 10,157 1,220 368,859 138,825 - 15,049 1,004,678 Chad 14,809 33,553 48,362 _12,511_ 3,275 - - - - 35,000 86,637 Chile 604 - 604 _11_ 87 - - - - - 691 China 210,815 - 210,815 _295_ 52,598 - - - - 1 263,414 China, Hong Kong SAR 25 - 25 _-_ 33 - - - - - 58 China, Macao SAR 5 - 5 _-_ 20 - - - - - 25 Colombia 95,237 250,888 346,125 _89,223_ 6,030 22 6,520,270 - - - 6,872,447 Comoros 562 - 562 _1_ 377 - - - - - 939 Congo, Republic of 14,745 - 14,745 _2,024_ 4,079 1 - - - 78 18,903 Cook Islands 1 - 1 _-_ - - - - - - 1 Costa Rica 418 - 418 _2_ 155 - - - - - 573 Côte d’Ivoire 72,158 - 72,158 _59,583_ 14,396 74 24,000 - - 41 110,669 Croatia **[10]** 33,669 - 33,669 _12,021_ 460 24 - - - 13,774 47,927 Cuba 6,058 1,000 7,058 _726_ 1,760 - - - - 130 8,948 Curaçao 35 - 35 _-_ - - - - - - 35 Cyprus **[11]** 6 - 6 _-_ 6 - - - - - 12 Czech Rep. 1,311 - 1,311 _-_ 162 - - - - - 1,473 Dem. People’s Rep.
1,079 - 1,079 _70_ 294 - - - - - 1,373 of Korea Dem. Rep. of 535,115 208 535,323 _464,691_ 75,350 3,230 1,491,769 193,841 - 116,289 2,415,802 the Congo Denmark 11 - 11 _-_ 7 - - - - - 18 Djibouti 921 - 921 _85_ 494 - - - - 31 1,446 Dominica 38 - 38 _-_ 25 - - - - - 63 Dominican Rep. 358 - 358 _11_ 1,439 - - - - - 1,797 Ecuador 807 - 807 _19_ 6,330 - - - - - 7,137 Egypt 16,105 - 16,105 _267_ 10,415 - - - - 48 26,568 El Salvador 11,120 - 11,120 _385_ 21,885 - - - - 24 33,029 Equatorial Guinea 173 - 173 _13_ 104 - - - - - 277 Eritrea 352,309 31,560 383,869 _233,050_ 60,157 1 - - - 64 444,091 ... /...

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015 **21**

UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015