Background and methodology
From November 2017 to October 2019, UNHCR estimates some 219,720 South Sudanese refugees have spontaneously returned to South Sudan.
To learn more about the challenges they face and their plans for the future, UNHCR conducts an in-depth, household-level survey of returnees across the country bi-monthly.
UNHCR collects information about returns through a variety of sources, such as key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and partner reports. UNHCR then works with South Sudan’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission and NGO partners to validate the reports by interviewing randomly selected households in identified areas of return. Data for this assessment was collected from August to September 2019, during which 894 households (5,665 individuals) were interviewed in high return locations in Central Equatoria, Jonglei, Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Unity, Upper Nile, Warrap, Western Bahr El Ghazal and Western Equatoria.