Children on the move: key facts and figures
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Download Infographic Millions of children have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced. As of 2016, 28 million children were living in forced displacement – this includes 12 million child refugees and child asylum seekers, and 16 million children living in internal displacement due to conflict and violence. These numbers do not include 7 million children internally displaced by natural disasters. Millions of other children had moved, within or across borders, in pursuit of better opportunities. This Data Brief presents key facts and figures about children in migration and displacement and the numbers behind UNICEF’s 6 Agenda for Children on the Move. For the challenges relating to data on migrant children, see the joint Call to Action by UNICEF, UNHCR, IOM, OECD and Eurostat here.
10 Key Facts
As of 2016, 28 million children were living in forced displacement - this includes 12 million child refugees and child asylum seekers, and 16 million children living in internal displacement due to conflict and violence.15,000 people are displaced every day within African countries.
As of 2016, around 1 in 80 children in the world were living in forced displacement.
Between 2005 and 2016, the number of child refugees worldwide, under UNHCR’s mandate, more than doubled from 4 million to 9 million.
Around 9 out of 10 refugees remain in their region of origin (as of 2016).
In 2014, 28 per cent of all detected trafficking victims were children (20 per cent girls and 8 per cent boys).
At least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children who moved across borders were registered in 80 countries in 2015 and 2016.
Worldwide, there have been more than 26,000 migrant deaths since 2014. In 2016, there were an estimated 700 child deaths on the Central Mediterranean route alone.
Around the world, almost 1 in 10 children live in countries and areas affected by armed conflicts, and more than 400 million live in extreme poverty.
Over 100 countries are known to detain children in immigration detention.
Refugee children are five times more likely to be out of school than other children. Only 50 per cent of refugee children are enrolled in primary school, and less than 25 per cent of refugee adolescents are enrolled in secondary school