| Field Listing :: Refugees and internally displaced persons |
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This entry includes those persons residing in a country as refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs). Each country's refugee entry includes only countries of origin that are the source of refugee populations of 5,000 or more. The definition of a refugee according to a United Nations Convention is "a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution." The UN established the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1950 to handle refugee matters worldwide. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has a different operational definition for a Palestinian refugee: "a person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." However, UNHCR also assists some 400,000 Palestinian refugees not covered under the UNRWA definition. The term "internally displaced person" is not specifically covered in the UN Convention; it is used to describe people who have fled their homes for reasons similar to refugees, but who remain within their own national territory and are subject to the laws of that state. |
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Refugees and internally displaced persons |
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| Afghanistan
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refugees (country of origin): 16,147 (Pakistan) (2012)
IDPs: 612,000 (mostly Pashtuns and Kuchis displaced in the south and west due to drought and instability) (2013)
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| Albania
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stateless persons: 7,443 (2012)
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| Algeria
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refugees (country of origin): 90,000 (Western Saharan Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern Algerian town of Tindouf); 1,500 (Mali) (2013)
IDPs: undetermined (civil war during 1990s) (2012)
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| Angola
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refugees (country of origin): 20,740 (Democratic Republic of Congo) (2012)
IDPs: 19,500 (27-year civil war ending in 2002) (2005)
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| Armenia
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refugees (country of origin): 6,000 (Syria - ethnic Armenians) (2013)
IDPs: 8,400 (conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh) (2009)
stateless persons: 35 (2012)
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| Australia
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refugees (country of origin): 7,192 (Afghanistan) (2012)
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| Austria
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refugees (country of origin): 19,517 (Russia); 10,158 (Afghanistan) (2012)
stateless persons: 542 (2012)
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| Azerbaijan
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IDPs: 600,000 (conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh) (2013)
stateless persons: 3,585 (2012)
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| Bangladesh
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refugees (country of origin): 230,674 (Burma) (2012)
IDPs: undetermined (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2012)
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| Belarus
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stateless persons: 6,969 (2012)
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| Belgium
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stateless persons: 3,898 (2012)
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| Bosnia and Herzegovina
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refugees (country of origin): 6,733 (Croatia) (2012)
IDPs: 113,000 (Bosnian Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks displaced in 1992-95 war) (2011)
stateless persons: 4,500 (2012)
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| Brunei
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stateless persons: 21,009 (2012); note - thousands of stateless persons, often ethnic Chinese, are permanent residents and their families have lived in Brunei for generations; obtaining citizenship is difficult and requires individuals to pass rigorous tests on Malay culture, customs, and language; stateless residents receive an International Certificate of Identity, which enables them to travel overseas; the government is considering changing the law prohibiting non-Bruneians, including stateless permanent residents, from owning land
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| Burkina Faso
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refugees (country of origin): 49,975 (Mali) (2013)
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| Burma
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IDPs: 649,000 (government offensives against armed ethnic minority groups near its borders with China and Thailand) (2013)
stateless persons: 808,075 (2012); note - Burma's main group of stateless people is the Rohingya, Muslims living in northern Rakhine State; the Burmese Government does not recognize the Rohingya as a "national race" and stripped them of their citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship law, categorizing them as "non-national" or "foreign residents"; native-born but non-indigenous people, such as Indians, and children born in Thailand to Burmese parents are also stateless; the Burmese Government does not grant citizenship to children born outside of the country to Burmese parents who left the country illegally or fled persecution
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| Burundi
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refugees (country of origin): 41,349 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2012)
IDPs: 78,800 (the majority are ethnic Tutsi displaced by inter-communal violence that broke out after the 1993 coup and fighting between government forces and rebel groups; no new displacements since 2008 when the last rebel group laid down its arms) (2012)
stateless persons: 1,302 (2012)
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| Cameroon
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refugees (country of origin): 90,372 (Central African Republic) (2013)
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| Canada
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refugees (country of origin): 17,563 (Colombia); 16,813 (China); 13,705 (Sri Lanka); 11,605 (Pakistan); 6,798 (Haiti); 5,995 (Mexico); 5,287 (India) (2012)
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| Central African Republic
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refugees (country of origin): 10,662 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2012)
IDPs: 710,000 (clashes between army and rebel groups since 2005; tensions between ethnic groups) (2013)
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| Chad
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refugees (country of origin): 346,000 (Sudan); 78,950 (Central African Republic) (2013)
IDPs: 90,000 (majority are in the east) (2012)
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| China
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refugees (country of origin): 300,897 (Vietnam); estimated 30,000-50,000 (North Korea) (2012)
IDPs: 90,000 (2010)
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| Colombia
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IDPs: 3.9-5.5 million (conflict between government and illegal armed groups and drug traffickers since 1985) (2011)
stateless persons: 12 (2012)
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| Congo, Democratic Republic of the
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refugees (country of origin): 50,736 (Rwanda); 9,368 (Burundi) (2012); 47,000 (Central African Republic) (2013)
IDPs: 2,669,069 (fighting between government forces and rebels since mid-1990s; most IDPs are in eastern provinces) (2012)
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| Congo, Republic of the
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refugees (country of origin): 8,404 (Rwanda); 89,424 (Democratic Republic of Congo) (2012)
IDPs: 7,800 (multiple civil wars since 1992) (2009)
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| Costa Rica
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refugees (country of origin): 10,305 (Colombia) (2012)
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| Cote d'Ivoire
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refugees (country of origin): 9,126 (Liberia) (2012)
IDPs: 40,000 - 80,000 (post-election conflict in 2010-2011, as well as civil war from 2002-2004; most pronounced in western and southwestern regions) (2011)
stateless persons: 700,000 (2012); note - many Ivoirians lack documentation proving their nationality, which prevent them from accessing education and healthcare; birth on Ivorian soil does not automatically result in citizenship; disputes over citizenship and the associated rights of the large population descended from migrants from neighboring countries is an ongoing source of tension and contributed to the country's 2002 civil war; some observers believe the government's mass naturalizations of thousands of people over the last couple of years is intended to boost its electoral support base; the government in October 2013 acceded to international conventions on statelessness and in August 2013 reformed its nationality law, key steps to clarify the nationality of thousands of residents
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| Croatia
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stateless persons: 2,886 (2012)
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| Cyprus
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IDPs: 208,000 (both Turkish and Greek Cypriots; many displaced since 1974) (2012)
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| Denmark
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stateless persons: 3,623 (2012)
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| Djibouti
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refugees (country of origin): 18,725 (Somalia) (2013)
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| Ecuador
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refugees (country of origin): 122,964 (Colombia) (2012)
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| Egypt
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refugees (country of origin): 70,028 (West Bank and Gaza Strip); 12,124 (Sudan); 5,703 (Iraq) (2012); 130,720 (Syria); 7,957 (Somalia) (2013)
stateless persons: 60 (2012)
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| Eritrea
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IDPs: 10,000 (border war with Ethiopia from 1998-2000; it has not been possible to confirm whether remaining IDPs are still living with hosts or have been returned or resettled) (2009)
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| Estonia
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stateless persons: 94,235 (2012); note - following independence in 1991, automatic citizenship was restricted to those who were Estonian citizens prior to the 1940 Soviet occupation and their descendants; thousands of ethnic Russians remained stateless when forced to choose between passing Estonian language and citizenship tests or applying for Russian citizenship; one reason for demurring on Estonian citizenship was to retain the right of visa-free travel to Russia; stateless residents can vote in local elections but not general elections; stateless parents who have been lawful residents of Estonia for at least five years can apply for citizenship for their children before they turn 15
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| Ethiopia
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refugees (country of origin): 243,961 (Somalia); 39,477 (Sudan); 62,996 (Eritrea) (2013)
IDPs: 200,000-300,000 (border war with Eritrea from 1998-2000, ethnic clashes in Gambela, and ongoing Ethiopian military counterinsurgency in Somali region; most IDPs are in Tigray and Gambela Provinces) (2008)
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| Finland
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stateless persons: 2,017 (2012)
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| France
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refugees (country of origin): 23,225 (Sri Lanka); 12,666 (Cambodia); 12,585 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 11,767 (Russia); 11,506 (Serbia); 10,887 (Turkey); 8,605 (Vietnam); 7,335 (Laos) (2012)
stateless persons: 1,210 (2012)
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| Gambia, The
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refugees (country of origin): 9,042 (Senegal) (2012)
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| Gaza Strip
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refugees (country of origin): 1.167 million (Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)) (2012)
IDPs: 160,000 (persons displaced within both the Gaza strip and the West Bank since 1967; as estimated by unofficial sources) (2011)
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| Georgia
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IDPs: 268,415 - 280,000 (displaced in the 1990s and 2008 from Abkhazia and South Ossetia) (2012)
stateless persons: 1,156 (2012)
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| Germany
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refugees (country of origin): 113,809 (Serbia); 90,773 (Turkey); 49,829 (Iraq); 40,204 (Russia); 31,746 (Afghanistan); 23,799 (Vietnam); 23,460 (Bosnia and Herzegovina); 21,629 (Iran); 20,059 (Ukraine); 18,165 (Syria); 11,819 (Lebanon); 11,672 (Sri Lanka); 6,575 (Azerbaijan); 6,175 (Macedonia); 5,206 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2012)
stateless persons: 5,683 (2012)
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| Ghana
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refugees (country of origin): 5,156 (Liberia) (2012); 8,532 (Cote d'Ivoire; flight from 2010 post-election fighting) (2013)
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| Greece
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stateless persons: 154 (2012)
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| Guatemala
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IDPs: undetermined (more than three decades of internal conflict that ended in 1996 displaced mainly the indigenous Maya population and rural peasants; ongoing drug cartel and gang violence) (2011)
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| Guinea
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refugees (country of origin): 6,552 (Cote d'Ivoire) (2012)
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| Guinea-Bissau
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refugees (country of origin): 7,700 (Senegal) (2012)
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| Haiti
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IDPs: 171,974 (includes only IDPs from the 2010 earthquake living in camps or camp-like situations; information is lacking about IDPs living outside camps or who have left camps) (2012)
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| Hungary
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stateless persons: 111 (2012)
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| Iceland
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stateless persons: 119 (2012)
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| India
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refugees (country of origin): 100,003 (Tibet/China); 67,165 (Sri Lanka); 9,633 (Afghanistan); 7,671 (Burma) (2012)
IDPs: at least 540,000 (about 250,000 are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2012)
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| Indonesia
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IDPs: 180,000 (government offensives against rebels in Aceh; most IDPs in Aceh, Central Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi Provinces, and Maluku) (2011)
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| Iran
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refugees (country of origin): 2.4 million (1 million registered, 1.4 million undocumented) (Afghanistan); 42,500 (Iraq) (2013)
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| Iraq
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refugees (country of origin): 15,496 (Turkey); 11,467 (West Bank and Gaza Strip); 8,259 (Iran) (2012); 206,137 (Syria) (2013)
IDPs: 1.1 million (since 2006 from ethno-sectarian violence) (2013)
stateless persons: 120,000 (2012); note - in the 1970s and 1980s under SADDAM Husayn's administration, thousands of Iraq's Faili Kurds, followers of Shia Islam, were stripped of their Iraqi citizenship, had their property seized by the government, and many were deported; some Faili Kurds had their citizenship reinstated under the 2006 Iraqi Nationality Law, but others lack the documentation to prove their Iraqi origins; some Palestinian refugees, who were also persecuted under the SADDAM Husayn regime, still remain stateless in Iraq
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| Ireland
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stateless persons: 73 (2012)
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| Israel
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refugees (country of origin): 37,347 (Eritrea); 10,743 (Sudan) (2012)
stateless persons: 14 (2012)
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| Italy
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refugees (country of origin): 11,345 (Eritrea); 9,284 (Somalia); 5,058 (Afghanistan) (2012)
stateless persons: 470 (2012)
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| Japan
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stateless persons: 1,100 (2012)
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| Jordan
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refugees (country of origin): 1,979,580 (Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)) (2011); 63,037 (Iraq) (2012); 567,111 (Syria) (2013)
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| Kenya
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refugees (country of origin): 34,800 (South Sudan); 34,000 (Ethiopia); 11,500 (Democratic Republic of Congo); 6,000 (Sudan) (2012); 474,226 (Somalia) (2013)
IDPs: at least 300,000 (2007-08 post-election violence; the status of the estimated 300,000 IDPs from the 2007-08 post-election violence who found refuge in host communities rather than camps - and IDPs displaced through natural disasters, drought, development and environmental projects, land disputes, cattle rustling, and inter-communal violence - is not captured in Kenya's national database; in 2012, inter-communal violence displaced approximately 118,000 people and floods displaced an estimated 100,000) (2012)
stateless persons: 20,000 (2012); note - the stateless population is composed of Nubians, Kenyan Somalis, and coastal Arabs; the Nubians are descendants of Sudanese soldiers recruited by the British to fight for them in East Africa more than a century ago; they did not receive Kenyan citizenship when the country became independent in 1963; only recently have Nubians become a formally recognized tribe and had less trouble obtaining national IDs; Galjeel and other Somalis who have lived in Kenya for decades are lumped in with more recent Somali refugees and denied ID cards
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| Korea, North
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IDPs: undetermined (periodic flooding and famine during mid-1990s) (2007)
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| Kosovo
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IDPs: 17,853 (primarily ethnic Serbs displaced during the 1998-1999 war; IDPs consist of an estimated 54% Serbs, 40% Albanians, and 5% Roma, Ashkalis, and Egyptians) (2012)
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| Kuwait
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stateless persons: 93,000 (2012); note - Kuwait's 1959 Nationality Law defined citizens as persons who settled in the country before 1920 and who had maintained normal residence since then; one-third of the population, descendants of Bedouin tribes, missed the window of opportunity to register for nationality rights after Kuwait became independent in 1961 and were classified as bidun (meaning without); since the 1980s Kuwait's bidun have progressively lost their rights, including opportunities for employment and education, amid official claims that they are nationals of other countries who have destroyed their identification documents in hopes of gaining Kuwaiti citizenship; Kuwaiti authorities have delayed processing citizenship applications and labeled biduns as "illegal residents," denying them access to civil documentation, such as birth and marriage certificates; 2011 bidun demonstrations for the recognition of their Kuwaiti nationality led to several arrests
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| Kyrgyzstan
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IDPs: 172,000 (June 2010 violence in southern Kyrgyzstan between the Kyrgyz majority and the Uzbek minority) (2012)
stateless persons: 15,473 (2012); note - most stateless people were born in Kyrgystan, have lived there many years, or are married to a Kyrgyz citizen; in 2009, Kyrgyzstan adopted a national action plan to speed up the exchange of old Soviet passports for Kyrgyz ones; stateless people are unable to register marriages and births, to travel within the country or abroad, to own property, or to receive social benefits
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| Latvia
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stateless persons: 280,759 (2012); note - individuals who were Latvian citizens prior to the 1940 Soviet occupation and their descendants were recognized as Latvian citizens when the country's independence was restored in 1991; citizens of the former Soviet Union residing in Latvia who have neither Latvian nor other citizenship are considered non-citizens (officially there is no statelessness in Latvia) and are entitled to non-citizen passports; children born after Latvian independence to stateless parents are entitled to Latvian citizenship upon their parents' request; non-citizens cannot vote or hold certain government jobs and are exempt from military service but can travel visa-free in the EU under the Schengen accord like Latvian citizens; non-citizens can obtain naturalization if they have been permanent residents of Latvia for at least five years, pass tests in Latvian language and history, and know the words of the Latvian national anthem
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| Lebanon
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refugees (country of origin): 436,154 (Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)) (2011); 6,516 (Iraq) (2012); 842,482 (Syria) (2013)
IDPs: at least 47,000 (1975-90 civil war, 2007 Lebanese security forces' destruction of Palestinian refugee camp) (2011)
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| Liberia
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refugees (country of origin): 54,621 (Cote d'Ivoire) (2013)
IDPs: undetermined (civil war from 1990-2004; post-election violence in March and April 2011; unclear how many have found durable solutions; many dwell in slums in Monrovia) (2012)
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| Libya
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IDPs: 74,000 (conflict between pro-Qadhafi and anti-Qadhafi forces; figure does not include displaced third-country nationals) (2012)
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| Malaysia
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refugees (country of origin): 84,671 (Burma) (2012)
stateless persons: 40,001 (2012); note - Malaysia's stateless population consists of Rohingya refugees from Burma, ethnic Indians, and the children of Filipino and Indonesian illegal migrants; Burma stripped the Rohingya of their nationality in 1982; Filipino and Indonesian children who have not have been registered for birth certificates by their parents or who received birth certificates stamped "foreigner" are not eligible to go to government schools; these children are vulnerable to statelessness should they not be able to apply to their parents' country of origin for a passport
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| Mali
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refugees (country of origin): 12,904 (Mauritania) (2012)
IDPs: 283,726 (Tuareg rebellion since 2012) (2013)
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| Malta
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refugees (country of origin): 5,041 Somalia (2012)
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| Mauritania
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refugees (country of origin): 26,000 (Western Saharan - Sahrawis) (2012); 67,200 (Mali) (2013)
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| Mexico
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IDPs: 160,000 (government's quashing of Zapatista uprising in 1994 in eastern Chiapas Region; drug cartel violence and government's military response since 2007; violence between and within indigenous groups) (2011)
stateless persons: 7 (2012)
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| Moldova
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stateless persons: 1,998 (2012)
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| Montenegro
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refugees (country of origin): 8,504 (Kosovo) (2012)
stateless persons: 3,383 (2012)
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| Nepal
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refugees (country of origin): 15,0000-20,000 (Tibet/China); about 43,000 (Bhutan) (2012)
IDPs: 50,000 (remaining from ten-year Maoist insurgency that officially ended in 2006; figure does not include people displaced since 2007 by inter-communal violence and insecurity in the Terai region) (2012)
stateless persons: 800,000 (2011); note - in 2007-2008 the government distributed 2.6 million citizenship certificates to the 3.4 million people without one; the remaining 800,000 without citizenship certificates are not necessarily stateless, and the UNHCR is working with the Nepali Government to clarify their situation; lesser numbers of Bhutanese Hindu refugees of Nepali origin (the Lhotsampa) who were stripped of Bhutanese nationality and forced to flee their country in the late 1980s and early 1990s - and undocumented Tibetan refugees who arrived in Nepal prior to the 1990s - are considered stateless
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| Netherlands
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refugees (country of origin): 18,255 (Iraq); 15,715 (Somalia); 5,697 (Afghanistan) (2012)
stateless persons: 2,005 (2012)
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| Niger
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refugees (country of origin): 49,770 (Mali); 8,385 (Nigeria) (2013)
IDPs: undetermined (unknown how many of the 11,000 people displaced by clashes between government forces and the Tuareg militant group, Niger Movement for Justice, in 2007 are still displaced; inter-communal violence) (2012)
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| Nigeria
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refugees (country of origin): 5,299 (Liberia) (2011)
IDPs: undetermined (communal violence between Christians and Muslims, political violence; flooding; forced evictions; competition for resources; displacement is mostly short-term) (2012)
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| Norway
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refugees (country of origin): 8,870 (Somalia); 5,727 (Iraq); 7,129 (Eritrea); 5,984 (Afghanistan) (2012)
stateless persons: 2,313 (2012)
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| Pakistan
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refugees (country of origin): 2.9 million (1.9 million registered, 1 million undocumented ) (Afghanistan) (2013)
IDPs: 758,000 (primarily includes IDPs who remain displaced by conflict in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber-Paktunkwa Province that peaked in 2009) (2013)
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| Panama
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refugees (country of origin): 15,723 (Colombia) (2012)
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| Peru
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IDPs: 150,000 (civil war from 1980-2000; most IDPs are indigenous peasants in Andean and Amazonian regions; as of 2011, no new information on the situation of these IDPs) (2011)
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| Philippines
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IDPs: about 4.5 million (government troops fighting the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf Group, and the New People's Army; clan feuds; natural disasters including typhoon Bopha (December 2012), the Bohol earthquake (October 2013), and typhoon Haiyan (November 2013)) (2013)
stateless persons: 6,015 (2012)
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| Poland
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refugees (country of origin): 14,938 (Russia) (2012)
stateless persons: 10,825 (2012)
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| Qatar
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stateless persons: 1,200 (2012)
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| Romania
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stateless persons: 248 (2012)
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| Russia
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IDPs: 8,500-28,450 (displacement from Chechnya and North Ossetia-Alania) (2011)
stateless persons: 178,000 (2012); note - Russia's stateless population consists of Roma, Meskhetian Turks, and ex-Soviet citizens from the former republics; between 2003 and 2010 more than 600,000 stateless people were naturalized; most Meskhetian Turks, followers of Islam with origins in Georgia, fled or were evacuated from Uzbekistan after a 1989 pogrom and have lived in Russia for more than the required five-year residency period; they continue to be denied registration for citizenship and basic rights by local Krasnodar Krai authorities on the grounds that they are temporary illegal migrants
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| Rwanda
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refugees (country of origin): 57,857 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2012)
IDPs: undetermined (fighting between government and insurgency in 1998-99; returning refugees) (2012)
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| Saudi Arabia
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refugees (country of origin): 291,000 (Palestinian Territories) (2009)
stateless persons: 70,000 (2012); note - thousands of biduns (stateless Arabs) are descendants of nomadic tribes who were not officially registered when national borders were established, while others migrated to Saudi Arabia in search of jobs; some have temporary identification cards that must be renewed every five years, but their rights remain restricted; most Palestinians have only legal resident status; some naturalized Yemenis were made stateless after being stripped of their passports when Yemen backed Iraq in its invasion of Kuwait in 1990; Saudi women cannot pass their citizenship on to their children, so if they marry a non-national, their children risk statelessness
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| Senegal
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refugees (country of origin): 13,702 (Mauritania) (2012)
IDPs: 10,000-40,000 (clashes between government troops and separatists in Casamance region) (2012)
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| Serbia
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refugees (country of origin): 49,931 (Croatia); 16,418 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (2012)
IDPs: 228,215 (most are Kosovar Serbs some are Roma, Ashkalis, and Egyptian (RAE); some RAE IDPs are unregistered) (2011)
stateless persons: 8,500 (includes stateless persons in Kosovo) (2012)
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| Slovakia
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stateless persons: 1,523 (2013)
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| Somalia
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IDPs: 1.1 million (civil war since 1988, clan-based competition for resources; 2011 famine; insecurity because of fighting between al-Shabaab and TFG allied forces) (2012)
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| South Africa
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refugees (country of origin): 17,864 (Somalia); 13,386 (Democratic Republic of Congo); 5,805 (Angola); 5,538 (Ethiopia) (2012)
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| South Sudan
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refugees (country of origin): 206,243 (Sudan); 13,925 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 5,890 (Ethiopia) (2013)
IDPs: 243,000 (information is lacking on those displaced in earlier years by: fighting in Abyei between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in May 2011; clashes between the SPLA and dissident militia groups in South Sudan; inter-ethnic conflicts over resources and cattle; attacks from the Lord's Resistance Army; floods and drought)
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| Spain
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stateless persons: 36 (2012)
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| Sri Lanka
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IDPs: 118,376 (civil war; more than half displaced prior to 2008; many of the more than 470,000 IDPs registered as returnees had not reached durable solutions as of September 2012) (2012)
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| Sudan
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refugees (country of origin): 112,283 (Eritrea); 32,220 (Chad) (2012)
IDPs: at least 2.9 million (civil war 1983-2005; ongoing conflict in Darfur region; government and rebel fighting along South Sudan border) (2013)
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| Sweden
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refugees (country of origin): 24,741 (Iraq); 19,416 (Somalia); 8,454 (Afghanistan); 6,414 (Eritrea); 6,051 (Syria) (2012)
stateless persons: 9,596 (2012); note - the majority of stateless people come from the Middle East and Somalia
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| Switzerland
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refugees (country of origin): 10,981 (Eritrea) (2012)
stateless persons: 69 (2012)
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| Syria
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refugees (country of origin): 486,946 (Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)); 87,741 (Iraq) (2012)
IDPs: 6.5 million (ongoing civil war since 2011) (2013)
stateless persons: 221,000 (2012); note - Syria's stateless population is composed of Kurds and Palestinians; stateless persons are prevented from voting, owning land, holding certain jobs, receiving food subsidies or public healthcare, enrolling in public schools, or being legally married to Syrian citizens; in 1962, some 120,000 Syrian Kurds were stripped of their Syrian citizenship, rendering them and their descendants stateless; in 2011, the Syrian Government granted citizenship to thousands of Syrian Kurds as a means of appeasement; however, resolving the question of statelessness is not a priority given Syria's ongoing civil war
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| Tanzania
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refugees (country of origin): 63,330 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 35,343 (Burundi) (2012)
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| Thailand
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refugees (country of origin): 83,317 (Burma) (2012)
IDPs: undetermined (resurgence in ethno-nationalist violence in south of country since 2004) (2011)
stateless persons: 506,197 (2012); note - about half of Thailand's northern hill tribe people do not have citizenship and make up the bulk of Thailand's stateless population; most lack documentation showing they or one of their parents were born in Thailand; children born to Burmese refugees are not eligible for Burmese or Thai citizenship and are stateless; most Chao Lay, maritime nomadic peoples, who travel from island to island in the Andaman Sea west of Thailand are also stateless; stateless Rohingya refugees from Burma are considered illegal migrants by Thai authorities and are detained in inhumane conditions or expelled; stateless persons are denied access to voting, property, education, employment, healthcare, and driving
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| Togo
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refugees (country of origin): 17,371 (Ghana); 5,593 (Cote d'Ivoire) (2012)
IDPs: undetermined (2012)
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| Turkey
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refugees (country of origin): 11,322 (Iraq) (2012); 553,281 (Syria) (2013)
IDPs: at least 954,000-1.2 million (displaced from 1984-2005 because of fighting between Kurdish PKK and Turkish military; most IDPs are Kurds from eastern and southeastern provinces; no information available on persons displaced by development projects) (2012)
stateless persons: 780 (2012)
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| Uganda
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refugees (country of origin): 127,021 (Democratic Republic of Congo); 14,684 (Rwanda); 11,135 (South Sudan); 10,728 (Burundi); 7,910 (Sudan) (2012); 18,253 (Somalia) (2013)
IDPs: 30,000 (displacement in northern Uganda because of fighting between government forces and the Lord's Resistance Army; as of 2011, most of the 1.8 million people displaced to IDP camps at the height of the conflict had returned home or resettled, but many had not found durable solutions) (2011)
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| Ukraine
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stateless persons: 35,000 (2012); note - citizens of the former USSR who were permanently resident in Ukraine were granted citizenship upon Ukraine's independence in 1991, but some missed this window of opportunity; people arriving after 1991, Crimean Tatars, ethnic Koreans, people with expired Soviet passports, and people with no documents have difficulty acquiring Ukrainian citizenship; following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, thousands of Crimean Tatars and their descendants deported from Ukraine under the STALIN regime returned to their homeland, some being stateless and others holding the citizenship of Uzbekistan or other former Soviet republics; a 1998 bilateral agreement between Ukraine and Uzbekistan simplified the process of renouncing Uzbek citizenship and obtaining Ukrainian citizenship
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| United Kingdom
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refugees (country of origin): 15,132 (Somalia); 12,155 (Zimbabwe); 11,428 (Iran); 9,901 (Eritrea); 9,842 (Afghanistan); 5,752 (Iraq) (2012)
stateless persons: 205 (2012)
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| United States
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refugees (country of origin): the US admitted 58,238 refugees during FY2012 including 15,070 (Bhutan); 14,160 (Burma); 12,163 (Iraq); 4,911 (Somalia); 1,948 (Cuba); 1,758 (Iran); 1,346 (Eritrea)
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| Uzbekistan
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IDPs: undetermined (government forcibly relocated an estimated 3,400 people from villages near the Tajikistan border in 2000-2001; no new data is available) (2012)
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| Venezuela
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refugees (country of origin): 203,563 (Colombia) (2012)
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| Vietnam
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stateless persons: 11,500 (2012); note - Vietnam's stateless ethnic Chinese Cambodian population dates to the 1970s when thousands of Cambodians fled to Vietnam to escape the Khmer Rouge and were no longer recognized as Cambodian citizens; Vietnamese women who gave up their citizenship to marry foreign men have found themselves stateless after divorcing and returning home to Vietnam; the government addressed this problem in 2009, and Vietnamese women are beginning to reclaim their citizenship
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| West Bank
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refugees (country of origin): 727,471 (Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)) (2012)
IDPs: 160,000 (persons displaced within both the Gaza strip and the West Bank since 1967; as estimated by unofficial sources) (2011)
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| World
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the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that as of the end of 2012 there were 45.2 million people forcibly displaced worldwide; this includes 15.4 million refugees, 937,000 asylum seekers, and 28.8 million conflict IDPs (another 32.4 million IDPs were displaced by natural disasters) (2012)
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| Yemen
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refugees (country of origin): 5,221 (Ethiopia) (2012); 229,447 (Somalia) (2013)
IDPs: 306,964 (conflict in Sa'ada governorate; clashes between AQAP and government forces) (2013)
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| Zambia
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refugees (country of origin): 14,871 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 5,963 (Rwanda) (2012)
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| Zimbabwe
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IDPs: undetermined (political violence, human rights violations, land reform, and economic collapse) (2012)
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Central Intelligence Agency
