While we all know that the refugee crisis is bigger today than it was in the past, what you might not realize is just how big. Thanks to national border controls established after the World Wars, a rapidly expanding world population, extreme inequality, and constant conflict, the world today is home to more refugees than at any other point in history. These are 25 things you should know about refugees and statelessness.
There are 59.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
86% of those refugees are hosted by developing or low income countries
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
In fact, more than 26 million of them are internally displaced. This means they have become refugees in their own countries, usually because of conflict.
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
By international law, refugees are not allowed to be sent back to the country from which they fled
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
The Middle East and North Africa have the highest number of internally displaced people with 2.5 million
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
In 2011 out of 895,000 requests for asylum only 11% were granted
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
In 2013 Russia received the most applications for asylum with 274,700. This was almost entirely (99%) due to the war in Ukraine.
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
After Russia, the countries that received the most requests for asylum were Germany (173,000) and the United States (121,200)
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
50% of refugees are under 18
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
The highest number of asylum applications in the world come from Afghanistan (2.56 million) and Syria (2.4 million)
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Actually, more than half of all refugees worldwide came from just 3 countries – Afghanistan, Syria, and Somalia
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
A stateless person is somebody who has no legal bond of nationality with any state. They may or may not be a refugee
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
There are an estimated 10 million stateless people around the world
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Many will never be able to acquire citizenship of any country. Examples of this would be the Kurds in Syria or the Rohingya people of Burma
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Remember how we said developing nations host the largest number of refugees? Pakistan hosts the largest number of refugees out of any nation at 1.6 million. Iran comes next at 857,400.
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita (in relation to its population) with 178 refugees per 1000 inhabitants
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
25,300 asylum applications were lodged by unaccompanied children
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Statelessness sometimes leads to crazy scenarios. When Iranian citizen Mehran Karimi Nasseri was expelled from his nation he was not allowed to enter France. He ended up living at the airport for 18 years. The Tom Hanks move "The Terminal" is based on his story.
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
There are two ways that countries typically grant citizenship by birth. Either jus soli (being born on the country"s soil) or jus sanguinis (your parents or ancestors are citizens)
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Most developed countries only grant citizenship by jus sanguinis. The United States is one of the only developed nations to unconditionally do both.
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
The United States is also one of a small number of nations that will allow its citizens to renounce their citizenship without holding the citizenship of another nation
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Once again, for international families jus soli and jus sanguinis can lead to interesting scenarios. If a child is born in a jus sanguinis country to parents who come from jus soli countries, that child will be ineligible for any citizenship.
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
While that seems like a silly scenario, it does happen. Certainly, these sorts of issues are typically sorted out but we mentioned them to show that people in the west take citizenship for granted, there are numerous people that have no such guarantee.
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
There are more refugees today than ever before. Ever since UN started keeping records, 2014 has gone down as the year with the highest number of refugees.
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
If the trend continues, the flow of refugees and stateless persons will on continue increasing as the world"s population explodes in conflict torn regions
Source: unicef, unhcr, wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
