List of largest refugee crises

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This article provides a list of data to rank the largest refugee crises in modern history by the event(s) that caused them. Only those events that resulted in the creation of at least one million refugees—not including internally displaced persons—are listed below.

For events for which estimates vary, the geometric mean of the lowest and highest estimates is calculated in order to rank them. As the dates for some events are disputed, the provided data only covers the time since or between the listed years.

Rows that are highlighted in blue denote crises that are ongoing, as of 2025. Data for these events may be outdated or disputed, and may be adjusted to reflect smaller or larger figures with newer analyses and reports.

Event Refugees (est.) Origin From Until Duration Ref.
World War II 60.0 million Europe 1939 1945 6 years [1][2][3][4][5][6]
Partition of India 20.0 million South Asia 1947 1948 1 year [7][8]
World War I 15.0 million Europe 1914 1918 4 years [9][10][11]
Bangladesh genocide 9.9 million East Pakistan (Bangladesh)[note 1] 1971 1971 8 months [12]
Venezuelan crisis 8.9 million Venezuela 2014 Present 11 years [13]
Russian invasion of Ukraine 7.0 million[note 2] Europe 2022 Present 3 years, 7 months [14][15][16][17]
Syrian civil war 6.7 million Syria 2011 Present 14 years [18]
Soviet–Afghan War 6.2 million Afghanistan 1978 1989 11 years [19]
Yemeni civil war (2014–present) 4.5 million Yemen 2014 Present 11 years [20]
Sudanese civil war (2023–present) 3.5 million Republic of the Sudan 2023 Present 2 years, 5 months [21]
Indochina crisis 3.0 million Mainland Southeast Asia 1975 2000 25 years [22]
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) 2.6–2.7 million Afghanistan 2001 2021 20 years [23][24]
Yugoslav Wars 2.4 million Yugoslavia 1991 2001 10 years [25]
Korean War 1.0–5.0 million Korea 1950 1953 3 years [26][27]
Iraq War 2.2 million Iraq 2003 2011 8 years [28]
Rwandan genocide 2.1 million Rwanda 1994 1996 2 years [29]
Iraqi uprisings 1.8 million Iraq 1991 1991 1 month [22]
Wars in the Caucasus 1.5–2 million Caucasus 1988 1996 8 years [30][31]
Mozambican Civil War 1.7 million Mozambique 1977 1992 15 years [22]
Arab–Israeli conflict 1.6 million (700,000+ Palestinians and 900,000+ Jews) West Asia and North Africa 1947 Present 78 years [32]
South Sudanese Civil War 1.5 million Republic of South Sudan 2011 2020 9 years [33]
Rohingya genocide 1.3 million Myanmar 2016 Present 9 years [34]
Armenian genocide 1.0 million Ottoman Empire 1915 1923 8 years [35][36][37][38][39]
Algerian War 1.0 million Algeria 1954 1962 8 years [22]
Irish Great Famine 1.0 million Ireland 1845 1849 4 years [40]
First Libyan Civil War 1.0 million Libya 2011 2011 8 months [41]
Somali Civil War 1.0 million Somalia 1991[note 3] Present 34 years [42]

Notes

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  1. ^ Pakistan's Operation Searchlight began on 25 March 1971. The Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence occurred on 26 March 1971 before being taken up by the India-backed Provisional Government of Bangladesh on 10 April 1971.
  2. ^ Includes 5.7 million Ukrainian refugees globally (not IDPs) and 35,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia by the end of 2024; and 900,000+ (total) Russians fleeing the government's military campaign in Ukraine by the aftermath of the 2022 Russian mobilization.
  3. ^ Disputed. Various sources also assert 1981 or 1988 (in addition to 1991) as the years in which the conflict began, depending on the event chosen.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ The State of The World's Refugees 2000: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action. Oxford University Press. 2000. p. 13. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  2. ^ Reporting on Migrants and Refugees: Handbook for Journalism Educators. France: UNESCO. 2021. p. 21. ISBN 978-92-3-100456-8. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  3. ^ Orchard, Phil (2014). A Right to Flee: Refugees, States, and the Construction of International Cooperation. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9781139923293.
  4. ^ Frank, Matthew; Reinisch, Jessica (2017). Refugees in Europe, 1919–1959: A Forty Years' Crisis?. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 147, 153. ISBN 978-1-4742-9573-4. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ^ Rothman, Lily; Ronk, Liz (11 September 2015). "This Is What Europe's Last Major Refugee Crisis Looked Like". Time. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  6. ^ Gatrell, Peter (2017). "The Question of Refugees: Past and Present". Origins. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  7. ^ "The State of The World's Refugees 2000" (PDF). UNHCR. 2000. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  8. ^ Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar (2013). "India–Pakistan Partition 1947 and forced migration". The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. doi:10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm285. ISBN 9781444334890. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  9. ^ Gatrell, Peter; Zhvanko, Liubov (2017). Europe on the Move: Refugees in the Era of the Great War. United Kingdom: Manchester University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9781784994419.
  10. ^ Gatrell, Peter (2008). "Refugees and Forced Migrants during the First World War". Immigrants & Minorities. 26 (1–2): 82–110. doi:10.1080/02619280802442613. S2CID 143755412. Archived from the original on 23 June 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022 – via Taylor & Francis Online.
  11. ^ Chase, Gummer (2014). "World War I Centenary: Migration in Europe". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  12. ^ Totten, Samuel; Bartrop, Paul Robert (2008). Dictionary of Genocide: A-L. ABC-CLIO. p. 34. ISBN 9780313346422. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  13. ^ Osorio, Sonia (13 May 2023). "Casi 9 millones de venezolanos emigraron, pero mantienen fuerte vínculo con su país y la democracia". El Nuevo Herald (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  14. ^ "Individual refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe". UNHCR. 18 April 2023. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  15. ^ "Forbes: about 700,000 people leave Russia since mobilisation started". Novaya Gazeta. 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  16. ^ "Hundreds of thousands flee Russia and Putin's 'two wars'". Al Jazeera. 18 April 2022. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  17. ^ "Blinken: Russia's war against Ukraine a 'strategic failure'". 5 June 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  18. ^ "Refugee Data Finder". UNHCR. 10 November 2021. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  19. ^ Rupert Colville (1997). "Refugees Magazine Issue 108 (Afghanistan : the unending crisis) - The biggest caseload in the world". UNHCR. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  20. ^ "Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen". unrefugees.org. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  21. ^ "IOM Sudan Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Sudan Mobility Update (15)". reliefweb. 5 February 2025. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  22. ^ a b c d State of the World's Refugees, 2000 Archived 2022-04-09 at the Wayback Machine United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
  23. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Afghanistan". UNHCR. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  24. ^ "In numbers: Life in Afghanistan after America leaves". BBC News. 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  25. ^ Watkins, Clem S. (2003). The Balkans. New York City: Nova Publishers. p. 10. ISBN 9781590335253.
  26. ^ "The biggest refugee movements in history". MSN. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  27. ^ "Population and Manpower of Korea 1954" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. 13 September 1954. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 January 2017.
  28. ^ "UN agencies launch $85-million appeal to aid 2.2 million Iraqi refugees". UN News. 18 September 2007. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  29. ^ Prunier 2009, pp. 24–25
  30. ^ "UNHCR publication for CIS Conference (Displacement in the CIS) - Conflicts in the Caucasus". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 1 May 1996. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  31. ^ Cohen, Roberta (10 June 2003). "Testimony of Roberta Cohen, Co-Director, The Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement, at the public hearing on "Internally Displaced Persons in the Caucasus Region and Southeastern Anatolia"" (PDF). Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Brookings Institution. p. 1. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  32. ^ "UN agency for Palestinian refugees launches $95 million appeal to keep COVID at bay". UN News. 4 September 2020. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  33. ^ "Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General". United Nations. 10 February 2017. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  34. ^ "WHO appeals for international community support; warns of grave health risks to Rohingya refugees in rainy season - Bangladesh". ReliefWeb. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  35. ^ Cheterian, Vicken (2015). Open wounds: Armenians, Turks and a century of genocide. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 103-104. ISBN 978-0-19-026350-8. The newly independent Republic of Armenia found itself in a similarly desperate situation. Nearly half of its population of 720,000 people were refugees. During the war 295,000 Armenians had left the Ottoman Empire and entered lands controlled by Russia, the vast majority of whom became refugees in the Republic of Armenia, which faced constant military pressure from the west, first from the Ottoman and later the Kemalist armies.
  36. ^ Migliorino, Nicola (2008). (Re)Constructing Armenia in Lebanon and Syria: Ethno-Cultural Diversity and the State in the Aftermath of a Refugee Crisis. Berghahn Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-84545-352-7.
    Armenian refugees in the countries of the Middle East, 1925
    Country Population
    Syria 100,000
    Lebanon 50,000
    Palestine & Jordan 10,000
    Egypt 40,000
    Iraq 25,000
    Iran 50,000
    Total 275,000
  37. ^ NARA 867.4016/816. From James W. Gerard to Secretary of State. November 1922. Approximate number of Armenians in the World. "Of the total indicated below, 817,873 are refugees from Turkey."
  38. ^ Մ., Ղասաբյան, Զ. (10 April 2001). "Ֆրանսահայ համայնքի սոցիալ-տնտեսական կյանքի զարգացման փուլերը (1922-1980թթ.)". lraber.asj-oa.am. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2025. ...90,000 genocide survivors settled in France...{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  39. ^ Paulston, Christina Bratt; Peckham, Donald, eds. (1998). Linguistic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe. Multilingual matters. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. ISBN 978-1-85359-416-8. ...70,000 to 80,000 survivors...in Greece.
  40. ^ "Irelands' Population in the mid 1800s". Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  41. ^ "2013 UNHCR country operations profile - Libya". UNCHR. 2013. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  42. ^ "Registered Somali Refugee Population". UNHCR. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2016.