Syria's refugee crisis in numbers

21 December 2016

As the crisis in Syria continues unabated, now into its sixth year, civilians are paying the highest price.

Refugees in the region

More than 4.8 million Syrian refugees are in just five countries Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt:

Turkey hosts 2.7 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country worldwide
Lebanon hosts approximately 1 million Syrian refugees which amounts to around one in five people in the country
Jordan hosts approximately 655,675 Syrian refugees, which amounts to about 10% of the population
Iraq where 3.1 million people are already internally displaced hosts 228,894 Syrian refugees
Egypt hosts 115,204 Syrian refugees

The UN’s 2016 humanitarian appeal for Syrian refugees was just 56% funded by the end of November 2016.

93% of Syrian refugees in urban areas in Jordan are living below the poverty line, as well as 70% of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, 65% in Egypt and 37% in Iraq.

Conflict in Syria

According to the UN around 13.5 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria. The number of people displaced within Syria is expected to rise to 8.7 million by the end of 2016.

The 5 countries which border Syria (Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey) have closed their borders to people fleeing the conflict. Currently, 75,000+ Syrians are stranded in dire conditions along the Syria-Jordan border. Ongoing conflict in Syria, including recent attacks in Aleppo, will likely lead to more people trying to flee Syria.

Between January and September 2016, Syrians made up the largest nationality of those crossing the Mediterranean to get to Europe (26.2%).

International Resettlement

In total, 224,694 resettlement and other admission pathways have been pledged globally since the start of the Syria crisis, which equates to a mere 4.7% of the total population of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey.

At least 480,000 people in the five main host countries – or 10% – are in need of resettlement according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

Key facts:

Gulf countries including Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees.
Other high income countries including Russia, Singapore and South Korea have also offered zero resettlement places
Germany has pledged 43,431 places for Syrian refugees via resettlement and other admission pathways; about 46% of the combined EU total.
Excluding Germany, the remaining 27 EU countries have pledged around 51,205 places via resettlement and other admission pathways, or around 1% of the Syrian refugee population in the main host countries
Germany and Sweden together have received 64% of Syrian asylum applications in Europe between April 2011 and October 2016