| Field Listing - Refugees and internally displaced persons
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Country | Refugees and internally displaced persons
Afghanistan | IDPs: 132,246 (mostly Pashtuns and Kuchis displaced in south and west due to drought and instability) (2007)
Algeria | refugees (country of origin): 90,000 (Western Saharan Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern Algerian town of Tindouf) IDPs: undetermined (civil war during 1990s) (2007)
Angola | refugees (country of origin): 12,615 (Democratic Republic of Congo) IDPs: 61,700 (27-year civil war ending in 2002; 4 million IDPs already have returned) (2007)
Armenia | refugees (country of origin): 113,295 (Azerbaijan) IDPs: 8,400 (conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, majority have returned home since 1994 ceasefire) (2007)
Azerbaijan | refugees (country of origin): 2,400 (Russia) IDPs: 580,000-690,000 (conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh) (2007)
Bangladesh | refugees (country of origin): 26,268 (Burma) IDPs: 65,000 (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2007)
Benin | refugees (country of origin): 9,444 (Togo) (2007)
Bosnia and Herzegovina | refugees (country of origin): 7,269 (Croatia) IDPs: 131,600 (Bosnian Croats, Serbs, and Muslims displaced in 1992-95 war) (2007)
Burma | IDPs: 503,000 (government offensives against ethnic insurgent groups near the eastern borders; most IDPs are ethnic Karen, Karenni, Shan, Tavoyan, and Mon) (2007)
Burundi | refugees (country of origin): 9,849 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) IDPs: 100,000 (armed conflict between government and rebels; most IDPs in northern and western Burundi) (2007)
Cameroon | refugees (country of origin): 20,000-30,000 (Chad); 3,000 (Nigeria); 24,000 (Central African Republic) (2007)
Central African Republic | refugees (country of origin): 7,900 (Sudan); 3,700 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); note - UNHCR resumed repatriation of Southern Sudanese refugees in 2006 IDPs: 197,000 (ongoing unrest following coup in 2003) (2007)
Chad | refugees (country of origin): 234,000 (Sudan); 54,200 (Central African Republic) IDPs: 178,918 (2007)
China | refugees (country of origin): 300,897 (Vietnam); estimated 30,000-50,000 (North Korea) IDPs: 90,000 (2007)
Colombia | IDPs: 1.8-3.5 million (conflict between government and illegal armed groups and drug traffickers) (2007)
Congo, Democratic Republic of the | refugees (country of origin): 132,295 (Angola); 37,313 (Rwanda); 17,777 (Burundi); 13,904 (Uganda); 6,181 (Sudan); 5,243 (Republic of Congo) IDPs: 1.4 million (fighting between government forces and rebels since mid-1990s; most IDPs are in eastern provinces) (2007)
Congo, Republic of the | refugees (country of origin): 46,341 (Democratic Republic of Congo); 6,564 (Rwanda) IDPs: 48,000 (multiple civil wars since 1992; most IDPs are ethnic Lari) (2007)
Costa Rica | refugees (country of origin): 9,699-11,500 (Colombia) (2007)
Cote d'Ivoire | refugees (country of origin): 25,615 (Liberia) IDPs: 709,000 (2002 coup; most IDPs are in western regions) (2007)
Croatia | IDPs: 2,900-7,000 (Croats and Serbs displaced in 1992-95 war) (2007)
Cyprus | IDPs: 210,000 (both Turkish and Greek Cypriots; many displaced for over 30 years) (2007)
Djibouti | refugees (country of origin): 8,642 (Somalia) (2007)
Ecuador | refugees (country of origin): 11,526 (Colombia); note - UNHCR estimates as many as 250,000 Columbians are seeking asylum in Ecuador, many of whom do not register as refugees for fear of deportation (2007)
Egypt | refugees (country of origin): 60,000 - 80,000 (Iraq); 70,198 (Palestinian Territories); 12,157 (Sudan) (2007)
Eritrea | IDPs: 32,000 (border war with Ethiopia from 1998-2000; most IDPs are near the central border region) (2007)
Ethiopia | refugees (country of origin): 66,980 (Sudan); 16,576 (Somalia); 13,078 (Eritrea) IDPs: 200,000 (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) (2007)
Gabon | refugees (country of origin): 7,178 (Republic of Congo) (2007)
Gambia, The | refugees (country of origin): 5,955 (Sierra Leone) (2007)
Gaza Strip | refugees (country of origin): 1.017 million (Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)) (2007)
Georgia | refugees (country of origin): 1,100 (Russia) IDPs: 220,000-240,000 (displaced from Abkhazia and South Ossetia) (2007)
Ghana | refugees (country of origin): 35,653 (Liberia); 8,517 (Togo) (2007)
Guatemala | IDPs: undetermined (the UN does not estimate there are any IDPs, although some NGOs estimate over 200,000 IDPs as a result of over three decades of internal conflict that ended in 1996) (2007)
Guinea | refugees (country of origin): 21,856 (Liberia); 5,259 (Sierra Leone); 3,900 (Cote d'Ivoire) IDPs: 19,000 (cross-border incursions from Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone) (2007)
Guinea-Bissau | refugees (country of origin): 7,454 (Senegal) (2007)
India | refugees (country of origin): 77,200 (Tibet/China); 69,609 (Sri Lanka); 9,472 (Afghanistan) IDPs: at least 600,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2007)
Indonesia | IDPs: 200,000-350,000 (government offensives against rebels in Aceh; most IDPs in Aceh, Central Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi Provinces, and Maluku) (2007)
Iran | refugees (country of origin): 914,268 (Afghanistan); 54,024 (Iraq) (2007)
Iraq | refugees (country of origin): 10,000-15,000 (Palestinian Territories); 11,773 (Iran); 16,832 (Turkey) IDPs: 2.4 million (ongoing US-led war and ethno-sectarian violence) (2007)
Israel | IDPs: 150,000-420,000 (Arab villagers displaced from homes in northern Israel) (2007)
Jordan | refugees (country of origin): 1,835,704 (Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)); 500,000 (Iraq) IDPs: 160,000 (1967 Arab-Israeli War) (2007)
Kazakhstan | refugees (country of origin): 3,700 (Russia); 508 (Afghanistan) (2007)
Kenya | refugees (country of origin): 173,702 (Somalia); 73,004 (Sudan); 16,428 (Ethiopia) IDPs: 250,000-400,000 (2007 post-election violence; KANU attacks on opposition tribal groups in 1990s) (2007)
Korea, North | IDPs: undetermined (flooding in mid-2007 and famine during mid-1990s) (2007)
Kosovo | IDP's: 21,000 (2007)
Lebanon | refugees (country of origin): 405,425 (Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)); 50,000-60,000 (Iraq) IDPs: 17,000 (1975-90 civil war, Israeli invasions); 200,000 (July-August 2006 war) (2007)
Liberia | refugees (country of origin): 12,600 (Cote d'Ivoire) IDPs: 13,000 (civil war from 1990-2004; IDP resettlement began in November 2004) (2007)
Libya | refugees (country of origin): 8,000 (Palestinian Territories) (2007)
Macedonia | IDPs: fewer than 1,000 (ethnic conflict in 2001) (2007)
Malaysia | refugees (country of origin): 15,174 (Indonesia); 21,544 (Burma) (2007)
Maldives | IDPs: 1,000-10,000 (December 2004 tsunami victims) (2007)
Mali | refugees (country of origin): 6,300 (Mauritania) (2007)
Mexico | IDPs: 5,500-10,000 (government's quashing of Zapatista uprising in 1994 in eastern Chiapas Region) (2007)
Montenegro | refugees (country of origin): 7,000 (Kosovo); note - mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma who fled Kosovo in 1999 IDPs: 16,192 (ethnic conflict in 1999 and riots in 2004) (2007)
Namibia | refugees (country of origin): 4,700 (Angola) (2007)
Nepal | refugees (country of origin): 107,803 (Bhutan); 20,153 (Tibet/China) IDPs: 50,000-70,000 (remaining from ten-year Maoist insurgency that officially ended in 2006; displacement spread across the country) (2007)
Nigeria | refugees (country of origin): 5,778 (Liberia) IDPs: undetermined (communal violence between Christians and Muslims since President OBASANJO's election in 1999; displacement is mostly short-term) (2007)
Pakistan | refugees (country of origin): 1,043,984 (Afghanistan) IDPs: undetermined (government strikes on Islamic militants in South Waziristan); 34,000 (October 2005 earthquake; most of those displaced returned to their home villages in the spring of 2006) (2007)
Papua New Guinea | refugees (country of origin): 10,177 (Indonesia) (2007)
Peru | IDPs: 60,000-150,000 (civil war from 1980-2000; most IDPs are indigenous peasants in Andean and Amazonian regions) (2007)
Philippines | IDPs: 300,000 (fighting between government troops and MILF and Abu Sayyaf groups) (2007)
Russia | IDPs: 18,000-160,000 (displacement from Chechnya and North Ossetia) (2007)
Rwanda | refugees (country of origin): 46,272 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 4,400 (Burundi) (2007)
Saudi Arabia | refugees (country of origin): 240,015 (Palestinian Territories) (2007)
Senegal | refugees (country of origin): 19,630 (Mauritania) IDPs: 22,400 (approximately 65% of the IDP population returned in 2005, but new displacement is occurring due to clashes between government troops and separatists in Casamance region) (2007)
Serbia | refugees (country of origin): 71,111 (Croatia); 27,414 (Bosnia and Herzegovina); 206,000 (Kosovo), note - mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma who fled Kosovo in 1999 (2007)
Sierra Leone | refugees (country of origin): 27,311 (Liberia) (2007)
Solomon Islands | IDPs: 5,400 (displaced by tsunami on 2 April 2007) (2007)
Somalia | IDPs: 1.1 million (civil war since 1988, clan-based competition for resources) (2007)
South Africa | refugees (country of origin): 10,772 (Democratic Republic of Congo); 7,818 (Somalia); 5,759 (Angola) (2007)
Sri Lanka | IDPs: 460,000 (both Tamils and non-Tamils displaced due to long-term civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)) (2007)
Sudan | refugees (country of origin): 157,220 (Eritrea); 25,023 (Chad); 11,009 (Ethiopia); 7,895 (Uganda); 5,023 (Central African Republic) IDPs: 5.3 - 6.2 million (civil war 1983-2005; ongoing conflict in Darfur region) (2007)
Syria | refugees (country of origin): 1-1.4 million (Iraq); 522,100 (Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)) IDPs: 305,000 (most displaced from Golan Heights during 1967 Arab-Israeli War) (2007)
Tanzania | refugees (country of origin): 352,640 (Burundi); 127,973 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2007)
Thailand | refugees (country of origin): 132,241 (Burma) (2007)
Timor-Leste | IDPs: 100,000 (2007)
Togo | refugees (country of origin): 5,000 (Ghana) IDPs: 1,500 (2007)
Turkey | IDPs: 1-1.2 million (fighting 1984-99 between Kurdish PKK and Turkish military; most IDPs in southeastern provinces) (2007)
Turkmenistan | refugees (country of origin): 11,173 (Tajikistan); less than 1,000 (Afghanistan) (2007)
Uganda | refugees (country of origin): 215,700 (Sudan); 28,880 (Democratic Republic of Congo); 24,900 (Rwanda) IDPs: 1.27 million (350,000 IDPs returned in 2006 following ongoing peace talks between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda) (2007)
United States | refugees (country of origin): the US admitted 62,643 refugees during FY04/05 including; 10,586 (Somalia); 8,549 (Laos); 6,666 (Russia); 6,479 (Cuba); 3,100 (Haiti); 2,136 (Iran) (2006)
Uzbekistan | refugees (country of origin): 39,202 (Tajikistan); 1,060 (Afghanistan) IDPs: 3,400 (forced population transfers by government from villages near Tajikistan border) (2007)
West Bank | refugees (country of origin): 722,000 (Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)) (2007)
World | the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that in December 2006 there was a global population of 8.8 million registered refugees and as many as 24.5 million IDPs in more than 50 countries; the actual global population of refugees is probably closer to 10 million given the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees displaced throughout the Middle East (2007)
Yemen | refugees (country of origin): 91,587 (Somalia) (2007)
Zambia | refugees (country of origin): 42,565 (Angola); 60,874 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 4,100 (Rwanda) (2007)
Zimbabwe | refugees (country of origin): 2,500 (Democratic Republic of Congo) IDPs: 569,685 (MUGABE-led political violence, human rights violations, land reform, and economic collapse) (2007)
This page was last updated on 19 June 2008