On World Refugee Day 2025, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi delivered a powerful address, shedding light on the growing crisis of global displacement. He revealed that over 122 million people are now displaced worldwide, marking the highest figure ever recorded and raised alarms over the growing stigmatisation of refugees and “brutal cuts to humanitarian aid” that are worsening an already dire situation.
According to the UN Refugee Data Finder, the number of forcibly displaced people reached 123.2 million by the end of 2024, driven by persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, or events seriously disturbing public order.
This includes 73.5 million internally displaced people, 36.8 million refugees, 8.4 million asylum-seekers, and 5.9 million others in need of international protection.
Nearly 69 percent of all refugees under UNHCR’s mandate and other people needing international protection come from just five countries: Venezuela (6.2 million), Syria (6 million), Afghanistan (5.8 million), Ukraine (5.1 million), and South Sudan (2.3 million). Meanwhile, five nations host 37 percent of the world’s refugee population: Iran (3.5 million), Türkiye (3.3 million), Colombia (2.8 million), Germany (2.7 million), and Uganda (1.8 million).
Children among the most affected
Children make up a significant portion of those displaced, around 49 million under the age of 18, or roughly 40 percent of the total. Between 2018 and 2024, an estimated 337,800 children were born as refugees each year, amounting to around 2.3 million births.
In 2023 alone, more than 1.6 million refugees returned to their countries of origin, and 188,800 were resettled with or without UNHCR’s support. Around 67 percent of all refugees lived in neighboring countries, while some 4.4 million stateless people were reported across 101 countries, a number believed to be much higher in reality.
Grandi, speaking from Syria, where “after 14 years of crisis and despair, two million people have already chosen to return to their homes and communities since the fall of the Assad regime last December,” reflected on his encounters with returning families. He said their joy was “a poignant reminder of the yearning refugees feel for home.”
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“The abject failure to end conflicts from Sudan to Ukraine, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Gaza continues to create untold human suffering,” Grandi stated, emphasizing the plight of innocent people “who run for their lives as the bullets fly and the missiles rain down [but] are unjustly stigmatized, making it harder to escape danger and to find somewhere to recover and rebuild.”
He warned that “brutal cuts to humanitarian aid are choking off assistance, threatening the lives of millions of people who desperately need help,” and called for urgent solidarity: “From wealthier states to development banks to businesses and many others, we can and must support these countries and communities by sharing the responsibility for protecting refugees.”
“Now more than ever, we must stand with refugees to keep alive their hopes of a better future. This World Refugee Day and every day, governments, institutions, companies and individuals can prove that by helping those caught up in senseless conflicts, we move towards greater stability, humanity and justice for us all,” he urged.
UN secretary general stresses action over words
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also marked the occasion, stating, “Today, we recognise the millions of refugees forced to flee war, persecution, and disaster. Every individual carries a story of profound loss, of a family uprooted and a future upended.”
He warned that “many face closed doors and a rising tide of xenophobia” at a time when “from Sudan to Ukraine, from Haiti to Myanmar, a record number of people are on the run for their lives, while support is dwindling.”
Describing the burden on host communities mostly in developing nations as “unfair and unsustainable,” Guterres stressed that “solidarity must go beyond words” and urged action: “boosting humanitarian and development support, expanding protection and durable solutions such as resettlement, and upholding the right to seek asylum, a pillar of international law.”
73 pc of refugees sheltered by middle-income countries
According to the UN, low- and middle-income countries currently host 73 percent of all refugees, while the least developed countries provide asylum to 23 percent of them.
“Becoming a refugee is never a choice. But how we respond is. So let us choose solidarity. Let us choose courage. Let us choose humanity,” Guterres added.
World Refugee Day was observed globally for the first time on 20 June 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Originally known as Africa Refugee Day, it was formally adopted as an international day by the UN General Assembly in December 2000.
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