Forced displacement: refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons

Introduction

Every year, millions of people are forced to leave their homes due to conflict, violence, human rights violations, persecution, disasters, and the impact of climate change. 

According to UNHCR the number of forcibly displaced people in the world is at least 117.8 million, a 4.4% decrease compared to 2024. This change reflects a sharp increase in the returns of refugees, mostly to Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan. One in every 70 people, or 1.4% of the entire world’s population, is now forcibly displaced.

Refugees mostly originated from 6 countries: Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Colombia

Facts & figures

Through its humanitarian efforts, the EU provides vital support to those in need.

EU humanitarian funding:

Most of the humanitarian budget of €1.5 billion was spent to help forcibly displaced populations and their host communities in 2025.

What are the needs?

Around 73% of the world’s refugees are hosted in low and middle-income countries, which puts a strain on host communities and resources. Their survival depends on the availability of assistance provided by the authorities, local communities, and humanitarian organisations.

Refugees, asylum seekers, vulnerable migrants, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) often face protection challenges and lack access to basic services.

This can be a result of their fragile legal status in the countries where they are currently living. The most vulnerable people are often hard to reach, as they try to avoid:

• violence
• exploitation
• abuse
• detention
• arrest

In 2025, the situation was compounded by severe funding cuts affecting essential services to forcibly displaced persons and the entire humanitarian system.

In urban areas, they struggle with poverty, lack of psychosocial support and various challenges in normalising their legal status. Violence, abuse, and exploitation against them (especially women and girls) often peak in the aftermath of new emergencies.

Long-term solutions

Finding durable solutions for the forcibly displaced is a challenge. Voluntary repatriation to their home countries is the preferred long-term outcome for refugees, but the lack of political solutions to conflicts, recurrent violence, and instability prevent many from doing so.

Forced displacement is no longer a temporary phenomenon, as it has become increasingly protracted. Displacement lasts 20 years on average for refugees and more than 10 years for most IDPs.

How are we helping?

The EU is a leading international donor in situations of forced displacement. In 2024, the European Commission allocated most of its humanitarian budget to projects that addressed the needs of forcibly displaced persons and their host communities.

This funding helped meet the most urgent needs of extremely vulnerable populations, including:

• women
• children
• people with disabilities

It protected and supported them during displacement and when returning to their homes. Thanks to this support, the EU’s humanitarian partners were able to help forcibly displaced populations accessing: 

About 35% of the EU’s humanitarian aid reaches forcibly displaced persons in the form of cash transfers (debit cards, mobile transfers, and cash in hand). 

Cash provides displaced populations with a sense of dignity and independence and serves to tighten links with local communities, as aid money is spent in small local businesses.

More than half of the projects in education in emergencies supported refugee and internally displaced children.

EU humanitarian aid also helps IDPs among others, in: 

• Nigeria
• South Sudan
• Ethiopia
• Yemen 

Development-led approach to forced displacement

In April 2016, the European Commission adopted the communication 'Lives in dignity: from aid-dependence to self-reliance. Forced displacement and development', which presented a development-led approach to forced displacement.

The objective is:

• to strengthen the resilience and self-reliance of both the displaced and their host communities
• by working with host governments and local actors to support the gradual socio-economic inclusion of refugees and IDPs
• to harness the productive capacities of refugees and IDPs by helping them access basic services

The EU also funds partners (including the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Danish Refugee Council) to support people in mixed migration settings such as in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. These partners help strengthen community protection networks (composed of IDPs and representatives from host communities) and local legal providers.

Partnerships and policy

The European Commission channels its financial support to partners that work at addressing the needs of refugees, IDPs, migrants and host communities in affected countries. The EU’s main humanitarian partners include the:

• UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
• the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement
• as well as international non-governmental organisations

To ensure more predictable and equitable responsibility-sharing among states, the EU supports the implementation of the global compact on refugees. Adopted in 2018, the global compact builds on the comprehensive refugee response framework (CRRF), which was rolled out in several countries in 2017 and 2018 for greater support to refugees and host countries. The EU took part in the 2023 global refugee forum, during which it announced 15 ambitious and forward-looking pledges that are now being implemented.

The EU strongly supports the guiding principles on internal displacement, and systematically promotes the inclusion of these principles in international and national law. In addition, the EU supported the work of the United Nations Secretary-General’s (UNSG) high level panel on internal displacement, which submitted its recommendations in September 2021, and resulted in the launch in June 2022 of the UNSG Action Agenda on Internal Displacement.

Disaster risk management

From July 2022 to December 2023, the EU held the Presidency of the platform on disaster displacement, a state-led initiative working towards better protection for people displaced as a result of disasters and climate change.