UNHCR Global trends report, 2011: UNHCR’s new report documents that 42.5 million people ended 2011 either as refugees (15.42 million), internally displaced (26.4 million), or as asylum seekers (895,000). 4.3 million people were newly displaced in 2011, but the high number of new refugees was offset by large numbers of IDPs returning home: 3.2 million, the highest rate in more than a decade. The report identifies several worrying trends: forced displacement is affecting larger numbers of people globally, with the annual level exceeding 42 million for each of the last five years and a person who becomes a refugee is likely to stay one for many years – 7.1 million refugees in UNHCR’s mandate have been in exile for at least five years.
The biggest producers of refugees are Afghanistan (2.7 million), Iraq (1.4 million), Somalia (1.1 million), Sudan (500,000), and Democratic Republic of the Congo (491,000). Around four-fifths of the world’s refugees are in neighbouring countries including in Pakistan (1.7 million people), Iran (886,500), Kenya (566,500) and Chad (366,500). The UK was sixth on the list of destination countries in Europe for new asylum seekers and in eighth place globally. For more details see: http://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2011