Number of international refugees and internally displaced people 1951-2021

Since the 1950s, the number of forcibly displaced persons recognized by the United Nations has increased drastically; from around 2.1 million international refugees in 1951 to almost 86 million displaced persons in total in 2021. In early 2022, it was estimated that the Russo-Ukraine War had pushed this figure past 100 million people.

UNHCR

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was founded in 1950 to deal with the large number of displaced persons in Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. Since then, the scale and geographical scope of its operations has broadened significantly, as it works to provide humanitarian aid, logistical support, and long-term solutions to crises across the globe. The UNHCR played an instrumental role in facilitating or limiting the impact of many decolonization movements across Africa and Asia in the late 20^th century, and, in recent decades, it has provided much-needed assistance in conflict areas, such as the Balkans in the 1990s, Afghanistan since the 2000s, and more recently in Syria and Yemen. Alongside the UNHCR, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established in 1949 to provide similar assistance programs for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and it is currently operational in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the State of Palestine.

Long-term crises

Persistent instability in Sub-Saharan Africa has also been a major area of focus throughout the UNHCR's history, as economic and structural underdevelopment, alongside conflict and political instability, has created several refugee crises that are now in their fourth decade. While countries such as Colombia, Germany, and Turkey have, to varying degrees, successfully managed refugee crises in recent years, the economies of most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are not equipped to do so. Displacement has placed a great strain on several regions' already-struggling resources, and these are now also being affected by climate change. Countries such as Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda are home to camps or camp networks that house hundreds and thousands of refugees, with some of the largest in Kenya being established in the early 1990s.