Pakistan still hosts largest number of refugees: UNHCR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan remained the world’s top host nation in 2014 with 1.6 million refugees, nearly all from Afghanistan, according to a report released by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday.
The data released by the United Nations refugee agency showed that Syrians, for the first time, have become the largest refugee population, overtaking the Afghans, who had held that position for more than three decades. At more than three million as of June 2014, the Syrian refugees now account for 23 percent of all refugees being helped by the UNHCR worldwide.
Despite dropping to the second place, the 2.7 million Afghan refugees worldwide remain the largest protracted refugee largest protracted refugee population under the UNHCR care with the majority hosted by Pakistan. Thus, Pakistan is the largest protracted refugee situation globally, official website unhcr.org reported.
After Syria and Afghanistan, the leading countries of origin of refugees are Somalia (1.1 million), Sudan (670,000), South Sudan (509,000), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (493,000), Myanmar (480,000) and Iraq (426,000).
By comparing the number of refugees to the size of a country’s population or economy, UNHCR’s report puts the contribution made by host nations into context: relative to the sizes of their populations Lebanon and Jordan host the largest number of refugees, while relative to the sizes of their economies the burdens carried by Ethiopia and Pakistan are the greatest.