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This entry includes those persons residing in a country as refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs). The definition of a refugee according to a United Nations Convention is "a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution." The UN established the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1950 to handle refugee matters worldwide. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has a different operational definition for a Palestinian refugee: "a person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." However, UNHCR also assists some 400,000 Palestinian refugees not covered under the UNRWA definition. The term "internally displaced person" is not specifically covered in the UN Convention; it is used to describe people who have fled their homes for reasons similar to refugees, but who remain within their own national territory and are subject to the laws of that state.
refugees (country of origin): 90,000 (Western Saharan Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern Algerian town of Tindouf); 1,500 (Mali) (2013)
IDPs: undetermined (civil war during 1990s) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 39,713 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2012)
IDPs: 78,800 (the majority are ethnic Tutsi displaced by inter-communal violence that broke out after the 1993 coup and fighting between government forces and rebel groups; no new displacements since 2008 when the last rebel group laid down its arms) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 71,815 (Angola); 52,443 (Rwanda); 9,376 (Burundi) (2012); 29,000 (Central African Republic) (2013)
IDPs: 2,665,021 (fighting between government forces and rebels since mid-1990s; most IDPs are in eastern provinces) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 9,126 (Liberia) (2012)
IDPs: 40,000 - 80,000 (post-election conflict in 2010-2011, as well as civil war from 2002-2004; most pronounced in western and southwestern regions) (2011)
IDPs: 10,000 (border war with Ethiopia from 1998-2000; it has not been possible to confirm whether remaining IDPs are still living with hosts or have been returned or resettled) (2009)
refugees (country of origin): 240,086 (Somalia); 89,692 (Sudan); 62,996 (Eritrea) (2013)
IDPs: 200,000-300,000 (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) (2008)
refugees (country of origin): 1.167 million (Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)) (2012)
IDPs: 160,000 (persons displaced within both the Gaza strip and the West Bank since 1967; as estimated by unofficial sources) (2011)
IDPs: undetermined (more than three decades of internal conflict that ended in 1996 displaced mainly the indigenous Maya population and rural peasants; ongoing drug cartel and gang violence) (2011)
IDPs: 357,785 (includes only IDPs from the 2010 earthquake living in camps or camp-like situations; information is lacking about IDPs living outside camps or who have left camps) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 100,003 (Tibet/China); 68,152 (Sri Lanka); 9,161 (Afghanistan); 6,621 (Burma) (2011)
IDPs: at least 506,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 15,606 (Turkey); 10,798 (West Bank and Gaza Strip); 7,989 (Iran) (2011); 155,139 (Syria) (2013)
IDPs: 1.1 million (since 2006 from ethno-sectarian violence) (2013)
refugees (country of origin): 34,800 (South Sudan); 34,000 (Ethiopia); 11,500 (Democratic Republic of Congo); 6,000 (Sudan) (2012); 492,592 (Somalia) (2013)
IDPs: at least 300,000 (2007-2008 post-election violence; the status of the estimated 300,000 IDPs from the 2007-08 post-election violence who found refuge in host communities rather than camps - and IDPs displaced through natural disasters, drought, development and environmental projects, land disputes, cattle rustling, and inter-communal violence - is not captured in Kenya's national database; in 2012, inter-communal violence displaced approximately 118,000 people and floods displaced an estimated 100,000) (2012)
IDPs: 17,853 (primarily ethnic Serbs displaced during the 1998-1999 war; IDPs consist of an estimated 54% Serbs, 40% Albanians, and 5% Roma, Ashkalis, and Egyptians) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 5,660 (Uzbekistan) (2011)
IDPs: 172,000 (June 2010 violence in southern Kyrgyzstan between the Kyrgyz majority and the Uzbek minority) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 61,153 (Cote d'Ivoire) (2013)
IDPs: undetermined (civil war from 1990-2004; unclear how many have found durable solutions; many dwell in slums in Monrovia) (2012)
IDPs: 160,000 (government's quashing of Zapatista uprising in 1994 in eastern Chiapas Region; drug cartel violence and government's military response since 2007; violence between and within indigenous groups) (2011)
refugees (country of origin): 15,0000-20,000(Tibet/China) (2011); about 43,000(Bhutan) (2012)
IDPs: 50,000 (remaining from ten-year Maoist insurgency that officially ended in 2006; figure does not include people displaced since 2007 by inter-communal violence and insecurity in the Terai region) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 50,000 (Mali) (2013)
IDPs: undetermined (unknown how many of the 11,000 people displaced by clashes between government forces and the Tuareg militant group, Niger Movement for Justice, in 2007 are still displaced; inter-communal violence) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 5,299 (Liberia) (2011)
IDPs: undetermined (communal violence between Christians and Muslims, political violence; flooding; forced evictions; competition for resources; displacement is mostly short-term) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 2.9 million (1.9 million registered, 1 million undocumented ) (Afghanistan) (2013)
IDPs: 758,000 (primarily includes IDPs who remain displaced by conflict in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber-Paktunkwa Province that peaked in 2009) (2013)
IDPs: 150,000 (civil war from 1980-2000; most IDPs are indigenous peasants in Andean and Amazonian regions; as of 2011, no new information on the situation of these IDPs) (2007)
IDPs: at least 843,000 (government troops fighting the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf Group, and the New People's Army; clan feuds; natural disasters (December 2012 Typhoon Bopha)) (2013)
refugees (country of origin): 57,641 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2012)
IDPs: undetermined (fighting between government and insurgency in 1998-99; returning refugees) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 19,917 (Mauritania) (2011)
IDPs: 10,000-40,000 (clashes between government troops and separatists in Casamance region) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 49,946 (Croatia); 20,673 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (2011)
IDPs: 228,215 (most are Kosovar Serbs some are Roma, Ashkalis, and Egyptian (RAE); some RAE IDPs are unregistered) (2011)
IDPs: 1.1 million (civil war since 1988, clan-based competition for resources; 2011 famine; insecurity because of fighting between al-Shabaab and TFG allied forces) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 197,315 (Sudan); 18,907 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 5,889 (Ethiopia) (2013)
IDPs: 190,000 newly displaced in 2012 (information is lacking on those displaced in earlier years by: fighting in Abyei between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in May 2011; clashes between the SPLA and dissident militia groups in South Sudan; inter-ethnic conflicts over resources and cattle; attacks from the Lord's Resistance Army; floods and drought)
IDPs: 118,376 (civil war; more than half displaced prior to 2008; many of the more than 470,000 IDPs registered as returnees had not reached durable solutions as of September 2012) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 100,464 (Eritrea); 31,871 (Chad); 4,421 (Ethiopia) (2011)
IDPs: more than 2.4 million (civil war 1983-2005; ongoing conflict in Darfur region; government and rebel fighting along South Sudan border) (2011)
refugees (country of origin): 11,322 (Iraq) (2012); 376,640 (Syria) (2013)
IDPs: 954,000-1.2 million (displaced from 1984-2005 because of fighting between Kurdish PKK and Turkish military; most IDPs are Kurds from eastern and southeastern provinces; no information available on persons displaced by development projects) (2006)
refugees (country of origin): 18,268 (Sudan); 12,998 (Rwanda) (2011); 111,107 (Democratic Republic of Congo) (2012); 29,355 (Somalia) (2013)
IDPs: 30,000 (displacement in northern Uganda because of fighting between government forces and the Lord's Resistance Army; as of 2011, most of the 1.8 million people displaced to IDP camps at the height of the conflict had returned home or resettled, but many had not found durable solutions) (2011)
IDPs: undetermined (government forcibly relocated an estimated 3,400 people from villages near the Tajikistan border in 2000-2001; no new data is available) (2012)
refugees (country of origin): 727,471 (Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)) (2012)
IDPs: 160,000 (persons displaced within both the Gaza strip and the West Bank since 1967; as estimated by unofficial sources) (2011)
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated in June 2011 that there were 43.7 million people forcibly displaced worldwide; this includes 15.1 million refugees and as many as 27.5 million IDPs in more than 40 countries (2011)
refugees (country of origin): 4,686 (Ethiopia) (2011); 229,447 (Somalia) (2013)
IDPs: at least 431,000 (conflict in Sa'ada governorate; clashes between AQAP and government forces) (2012)
IDPs: undetermined (political violence, human rights violations, land reform, and economic collapse) (2012)
The online Factbook is updated weekly. ISSN 1553-8133
For additional information on government leaders in selected foreign countries, go to World Leaders.
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