UNHCR reports first decline in global forced displacement in a decade

Barham Salih, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, launched the agency’s flagship Global Trends Report on 11 June 2026 in Geneva, revealing that global forced displacement has decreased for the first time in a decade while remaining unacceptably high. With 7 in 10 refugees trapped in long-term exile, Salih urged the international community to back a new initiative to lift millions out of protracted displacement and dependence on humanitarian aid, according to a press release by UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The report sets out an ambitious decade-long target to halve the number of refugees stuck in prolonged displacement. It also signals a paradigm shift from traditional aid toward self-reliance. The findings come as 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention.

In 2025, 5.4 million people escaped violence and persecution by fleeing to other countries. At the same time, 14.7 million displaced people returned to their areas or countries of origin, including 4.4 million refugees and 10.3 million internally displaced people. Sharp increases in returns were recorded in Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria. Refugee returns were the second highest since records began 60 years ago, though many occurred under pressure and to precarious conditions at home. Global refugee numbers declined by 3 percent to 41.6 million.

The report showed that more than 70 percent of refugees and others needing international protection originated from Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela. The largest hosts in 2025 were Colombia (2.8 million), Germany (2.7 million), Türkiye (2.4 million), Uganda (1.9 million), Islamic Republic of Iran (1.7 million), Chad (1.5 million) and Pakistan (1.3 million). Data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimated 68.6 million people as internally displaced due to conflict or violence by end-2025, a 7 percent decrease from end-2024. Sudan remained the largest crisis globally with 9.1 million displaced within the country. In a positive development, nearly 46,000 stateless people acquired citizenship across 24 countries last year.

Salih called for voluntary returns to be the primary solution and for refugees to be included in national systems, including education, health care, financial services and labour markets. He also stressed that more solutions abroad are urgently needed, such as resettling the most vulnerable, reuniting families and providing work permits and scholarships. In 2025, arrivals through resettlement or sponsorship pathways fell by more than half year on year to 81,800.

“For too many refugees, displacement starts as a lifeline but lasts a lifetime,” Salih said. “Humanitarian aid saves lives, but it is not the end point and does not enable refugees to become active agents in control of their futures.”

The initiative calls on governments, humanitarian and development actors, the private sector and civil society to scale efforts to empower refugees while upholding asylum and protection. The target focuses on low- and middle-income countries, where most refugees are hosted, and aims to bring refugees’ self-earned income up to the national poverty line in their host country. An estimated 4.5 million stateless people were reported globally at end-2025, 3 percent more than a year earlier.

“We now have an ambitious, achievable and quantifiable goal to advance self-reliance and transform lives for the better,” Salih said.

UNHCR pledged to galvanise efforts across society to create pathways out of protracted displacement for millions.