Get the facts

A displaced person is someone who has been forced to escape their home due to war, violence, conflict, or persecution. Increasingly people are also being forced to move because of climate change and natural disasters.  

A displaced person might still live within the boundaries of their country of origin – as an internally displaced person (IDP) – or they may have fled their country in search of safety elsewhere, as a refugee.

The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as a person who has had to flee their home country because of a ‘well-founded fear of being persecuted’ due to their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.  

A person can receive refugee status in the UK if the Government agrees that their asylum claim meets this definition. 

Internally displaced people have been forced to flee their homes, but they haven’t crossed an international border. Many people with this status are fleeing persecution, armed conflict, human rights violations, and increasingly, climate change.  

More than half of all displaced people worldwide are internally displaced.

Sadly, the global number of forcibly displaced people is higher than ever before. 

At the end of December 2025, a total of 117.8 million people were displaced – that’s one in every 70 people. This number has almost tripled across the 20 years. 

• 68.7 million people are internally displaced, in their home country 

• 41.6 million people are refugees 

• 9 million people are seeking asylum.   

Of the world’s refugees, 39% are children.

Worldwide, 70% of refugees and people needing international protection come from just seven countries: Venezuela (6.4 million people), Ukraine (5.2 million people), Syria (4.9 million people), Afghanistan (3.7 million people), Sudan (2.8 million people), and South Sudan (2.4 million people).

The vast majority of the world’s refugees and people needing international protection (68%) live in low- and middle-income countries. Most – just under two thirds – live in a country neighbouring their country of origin. 

One in five people in Lebanon are refugees or people needing international protection – the highest number in the world relative to its population size.

32% of the world’s refugees or people needing international protection are hosted by five countries: Colombia (2.8 million people), Germany (2.7 million people), Türkiye (2.4 million people), and Uganda (1.9 million people), and Iran (1.7 million people).

The UK hosts just under 600,000 refugees – 1.6% of the global refugee population, and less than 1% of the UK’s population.

In 2025, people seeking asylum, refugees, and people arriving on refugee family reunion visas only made up around 16% of the total number of migrants moving to the UK.

100,625 people sought asylum in the UK in 2025 – fewer than in France, Germany, Italy, or Spain. Per capita, the UK ranked 15th in Europe. 

The top five countries of origin of people seeking asylum were Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

The latest quarterly immigration statistics show that this number is falling. In the year ending March 2026, 93,525 people claimed asylum in the UK – a 12% decrease from the year ending March 2025.

Under international law, it is legal to enter a country irregularly for the purpose of seeking asylum.  

Yet small boat crossings – and the responses of politicians to these – have dominated the headlines in recent years. That’s despite those crossing the Channel in this way making up just 42% of people claiming asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2026.

People crossing by small boats make up an even smaller fraction of the total number of migrants moving to the UK. 41,472 people reached the UK by small boat in 2025 – around 5% of the estimated total 813,000 people who migrated to this country in the same year.

The attention given to small boats often masks a serious issue: there are no meaningful safe routes to seek asylum in the UK for the vast majority of people needing sanctuary. Since 2018, 95% of people arriving by small boat have then claimed asylum. That proportion has risen in recent years, and was 99% in 2025.

And the latest figures show that over 60% of people crossing came from just five countries, all marked by war or persecution: Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, and Somalia. Introducing new safe routes would play a critical role in stopping such dangerous journeys. 

The UK’s asylum system and policy present serious challenges to people seeking sanctuary. People often face long waits for a decision on their claim – and dehumanising systems and processes. 

The latest statistics (from the year ending March 2026) show that there were 35,744 cases (relating to 48,758 people) still waiting to hear a decision on their initial asylum decision. The backlog has fallen – down 55% from the year earlier – but too many people are still facing long waits where they are stuck in limbo. 

Most people are banned from working while they are seeking asylum. During this time, they are given just £9.95 a week in Home Office support to live on (if they are living in catered accommodation). People in uncatered accommodation are only given £49.18 a week. These extremely low levels of support force many into destitution.  

Conditions in asylum hotels are often poor and the accommodation provided is generally very unsuitable – placing further barriers restricting people’s abilities to integrate and rebuild. The number of people seeking asylum housed in hotels has fallen 35% in the last year, but 20,855 people were still in hotel accommodation in March 2026.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the challenges facing displaced people. But there’s lots of ways to take action, help empower people to rebuild their lives in the UK, and fight for a better, more compassionate asylum system. 

• Sign up as a befriender with our transformative JUMP programme 

• Call for change and join our advocacy network 

• Learn about other ways to volunteer with HIAS+JCORE