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Asia & The Pacific Regional Trends - Forced Displacement and Statelessness 2022

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Chapter 1

REGIONAL OVERVIEW

The total number of refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced people, stateless people, returnees and other persons of concern to UNHCR in the Asia and the Pacific region by end of 2022 stood at 14.3 million, a 26 per cent increase from 2021. The region hosts 13 per cent of the global total population UNHCR protects and/or assists (14.3 million out of 112.6 million). This includes 18 per cent of the world’s refugees, people in refugee-like situations, and asylum-seekers (7 million out of 40 million) within UNHCR’s mandate and 56 per cent of the world’s recorded stateless population (2.5 million out of 4.4 million).

As of end-2022, there were 6.8 million refugees and people in refugee-like situations, 5 million IDPs, 2.5 million recorded stateless people (including displaced stateless people), 778,600 IDP returnees, 233,300 asylum-seekers, and some 6,900 refugee returnees in Asia and the Pacific. Compared to the previous year, the main increases were refugees, including people in refugee-like situations (+63 per cent), followed by IDPs (+14 per cent). There were slight increases in stateless (+3 per cent) and asylum-seekers (+13 per cent).

Over the last decade, the overall trends in the region show a steady increase since 2013 with a surge in 2022. The number of refugees, people in refugee-like situations and asylum-seekers increased by 93 per cent from 3.6 million in 2013 to 7 million in 2022. There was also a significant increase in the number of IDPs in the region. The IDP population more than doubled in 2022 compared to 2013, increasing from 1.9 million to 5 million (+159 per cent).

The availability of disaggregated data by age and sex of the people UNHCR protects and/or assists varies widely between countries and population groups with demographics data available for 77 per cent of the people UNHCR protects and/or assists in the Asia and the Pacific region. Looking at the available demographic data, 74 per cent were women (18+ female) and children (under 18), and 5 per cent were elderly people above 60.

Up to 50 per cent were children, almost double compared to the proportion of children in the region, where children make up 27 per cent of the region’s general population. Many forcibly displaced children will spend their entire childhoods away from home, sometimes separated from their families. They may have witnessed or experienced violent acts and, in exile, are at risk of abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, tra"cking or military recruitment. UNHCR works with national authorities, other international and local organizations to assist, protect and find solutions for displaced children to make sure they are not left behind.

Of the total number of people who are forcibly displaced, stateless, returnees or others of concern to UNHCR, 12 per cent resided in managed camp or camp-like settings, while 50 per cent resided out of camps in individual accommodation. For 38 per cent the accomodation type is unknown. Of those residing in camps, 57 per cent were in Bangladesh, 25 per cent in Pakistan, per cent in India, 5 per cent in Thailand and 2 per cent in the Islamic Republic of Iran.