The number of people forcibly displaced by war, violence and persecution fell for the first time in a decade in 2025, although the total remained at an unacceptably high level, according to a report released by the UN refugee agency on Thursday.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said 117.8 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2025, down by 5.4 million from a year earlier.
The agency attributed the decline to a sharp rise in the number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to their places of origin. Its annual report showed that 14.7 million displaced people returned home during 2025.
Among them, 4.4 million refugees crossed international borders to return to their countries, marking the second-highest number of refugee returns recorded in the past six decades.
However, UN refugee chief Barham Salih warned that many of those returns did not take place under safe or stable conditions.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Salih said more than 90 percent of refugee returns last year occurred in Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria. He noted that many people returned to countries still facing insecurity, damaged infrastructure and limited access to essential services and economic opportunities.
“Returns that are not safe are not a solution,” he said, warning that such movements could trigger a new cycle of displacement.
Despite the decline in overall displacement, the report showed that 41.6 million people remained refugees at the end of 2025. Nearly 5.4 million people became refugees during the year after fleeing across international borders.
Sixty percent of those newly displaced refugees came from just eight countries. Sudan accounted for nearly one million refugee departures, while almost 800,000 people fled Ukraine.
The report also highlighted several crises that have fuelled displacement since the beginning of 2026. It said the conflict launched by the United States and Israel in the Middle East in February forced 3.2 million people from their homes in Iran alone.
In Lebanon, Israeli attacks since March have displaced more than one million people, according to UNHCR.
The agency said the conflicts in Iran and Lebanon also prompted many refugees living there to return to countries such as Syria and Afghanistan, often under difficult circumstances.
UNHCR also expressed concern over the shrinking availability of refugee resettlement opportunities. It estimated that 2.9 million refugees currently require resettlement in third countries.
Refugee resettlement places reached a four-decade high of 188,800 in 2024. However, that figure dropped to 81,800 in 2025, largely due to a sharp reduction in admissions by the United States.
“The gap between places and needs is enormous and has been widening,” the agency said.
Salih, a former Iraqi president who was once a refugee himself, warned that displacement is increasingly becoming a long-term reality for millions of people.
He said 70 percent of refugees now live in protracted displacement situations that often last for years or even decades.
Calling the situation unsustainable, Salih urged countries to support a new initiative aimed at reducing long-term displacement and dependence on humanitarian assistance.
“Humanitarian assistance was designed for emergencies. It was never intended to sustain generations of people indefinitely,” he said.
The initiative seeks to cut the number of refugees living in prolonged displacement by half over the next decade through expanded opportunities for voluntary return, resettlement and humanitarian visa programmes.
Salih expressed hope that countries would support the effort and help create a more sustainable solution to the global displacement crisis.
