Before war and political turmoil in Syria and Iraq pushed millions of people out of the countries, Afghanistan was the world's top producer of refugees for 32 years in a row.
While some countries have opened their doors to shelter refugees, others have shunned all such humanitarian responsibility. Lebanon's population is now comprised of 20% Syrians. Meanwhile, the resource-rich Gulf Cooperation Council namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman, has offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees.
Explore the number of refugees present in different countries of the world, and where they have come from.
Recent developments in the proliferation of refugees and internally displaced persons in Iraq and Syria have proven to be more extreme in terms of magnitude than trends in refugee movement from other countries. At the current rate of proliferation, the numbers of refugees, especially those refugees originating from Syria, has the potential to create a humanitarian crisis on a scale unseen in decades. It will continue to become necessary for more GCC countries to begin to adopt a participatory role in harboring these refugees.