Refugee facts

1. A refugee is a person who is outside his or her country of nationality and can't return due to a well-founded fear of persecution because of his or her race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group

2. At the end of 2013, there were 16.7 million refugees worldwide, with the highest number in Pakistan (1.6 million).

3. It’s estimated that 50% of refugees are under the age of 18.

4. An asylum seeker is a person who is looking to be recognized as a refugee, but has not yet received formal refugee status. The most asylum seekers come from Pakistan and Iran.

5. Internally displaced people (IDPs) are those who have been forced to leave their homes as a result of armed conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations. Unlike refugees they have not crossed an international border.

6. In 2011, there were roughly 26.4 million people displaced internally (within their country of origin) by conflict.
7. Under international law, refugees are not allowed to be forced back to the countries they have fled.
8. Developing countries host 80% of the world’s refugees.
9. In 2012, the region with the most number of IDPs was in the Middle East and North Africa (2.5 million people).
10. A total of 895,000 individual applications for asylum or refugee status were submitted to governments and UNHCR offices in 166 countries in 2011. Roughly 11% of these requests were fulfilled.