Which countries are taking in the most refugees in 2025?

In the past decade, the global refugee population has more than doubled, with 37.9 million refugees recorded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2024. 

A common misconception, however, is where refugees flee. In most cases, people affected by the world’s largest refugee crises aren’t able to make it to high-income countries in Europe or North America. Instead, most take shelter in neighboring countries. Based on UNHCR data, here are those ten countries as we enter 2025, as well as some of the challenges faced in some of those communities, and how Concern is responding.

10. Poland

Both Poland and Russia (No. 7) entered this list in 2022, owing to the conflict in Ukraine. All told, the country is hosting 980,000 refugees, 98% of whom are from Ukraine. There are also roughly 8,800 refugees from Belarus and nearly 2,900 from Russia.

9. Bangladesh

Virtually all of the 984,000 refugees currently living in Bangladesh are stateless Rohingya, who began seeking asylum en masse in 2017 after violence broke out in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. In that time, the city of Cox’s Bazar has become home to the world’s largest refugee camp, which in turn has been hit hard in the last seven years by fires, floods, and outbreaks. Concern has been in Bangladesh for over 50 years, working with both refugee and host communities, and was among the first to respond to the Rohingya crisis. 

» Learn more about Concern’s work in Bangladesh

8. Ethiopia

Ethiopia is host to over 997,000 refugees, 42% of whom have escaped conflict in nearby South Sudan, and 31% from Somalia. Most live in 24 refugee camps established in five of the country’s 12 regional states, though a small percentage (roughly 70,000 according to last year’s data) live in the country’s capital of Addis Ababa. 

» Learn more about Concern’s work in Ethiopia

7. Russia

Like Poland, the Russian Federation became a leading host country for refugees beginning in 2022 with the escalation of conflict in Ukraine. In 2024, that number is estimated to be just over 1.22 million people, 99.7% of whom are from Ukraine. 

6. Chad

Chad’s refugee population nearly doubled in 2023 with the onset of the crisis in Sudan. Today, of the 1.24 million refugees hosted in the Sahelian country, over 1.06 million are from neighboring Sudan. An additional 136,000 have also sought refuge from protracted conflict in the Central African Republic. 

Owing to the overnight surge of Sudanese refugees last year, the asylum process begins with border camps for initial arrivals, with the UNHCR working to process applications as quickly as possible so civilians could be relocated to one of 16 camps. However, as of August 2024, relocations have been paused owing to rains and flooded roads in the region. Funding is of the utmost importance to accommodate the overcrowded and under-resourced sites, especially as we enter 2025.

» Learn more about Concern’s work in Chad

5. Pakistan

Pakistan is host to approximately 1.58 million refugees, almost all of whom are from Afghanistan. Many have lived in the country for decades in the wake of the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989). Another influx came in 2001. The protracted nature of these displacements has led to many families living in compromised circumstances for generations. The fate of many Afghans still in Pakistan remains unclear; a repatriation order in 2023 set to go into effect this year has been delayed until June 30, 2025. Several thousand have already returned home. 

» Learn more about Concern’s work in Pakistan

4. Uganda

Policymakers in Uganda have shaped and reshaped policy in recent years around providing safe and dignified shelter for an increasingly large refugee population that has grown from from 477,000 in 2015 to over 1.65 million in 2023. Over half (some 948,000) are from South Sudan, while an additional 30% (520,000) are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

3. Germany

In recent years, out of the top countries that take in the most refugees, Germany was the only high-income country on the list. This changed in 2022 with the escalation of conflict in Ukraine, which has made large host communities out of Poland and Russia. But that conflict also nearly doubled Germany’s refugee population in less than a year. It currently sits at 2.66 million. Of that, 1.14 million are from Ukraine, with an additional 716,000 from Syria, 267,000 from Afghanistan, and 143,000 from Iraq.

2. Türkiye

Over 3.14 million refugees are currently being hosted in Türkiye. The majority (3.11 million) are Syrians under temporary protection, most of whom live in host communities although still at bare-minimum conditions. Türkiye also has a large number of refugees from Iraq (12,900) and Afghanistan (12,500).  

1. Iran

In 2022, Iran re-classified its refugee system, which led to a major increase in legally-documented refugees (840,000 to over 3 million), though many had been living in the country for some time. Today, 3.76 million refugees are hosted in the country, which also represents an increase in refugees displaced from neighboring Afghanistan (3.75 million people).

Concern’s work with refugees

Emergency response is part of Concern’s DNA and working with refugee communities in this context has become a core skill for our teams over the last six decades. We work with both refugee communities and host countries to ease the pressure that mass displacement can put on a host community. In addition to meeting the frontline needs  — including food, shelter, protection, and other non-food essentials — we also work with refugees on longer-term initiatives, including skill-building and livelihood development and psychosocial support. 

We also put a special focus on the needs of child refugees (who make up 40% of the global refugee population), including education, family support, and providing safe spaces where they can play and enjoy their childhood. 

Last year, we responded to 66 emergencies in 20 countries, reaching nearly 15.5 million people. This included:

• Playing an essential role in NGO coordination in Chad and collaborating with a consortium of NGOs on the cross-border response to support Sudanese refugees. 
• Rehabilitating temporary shelters in Lebanon, including preparing them for harsh winter conditions, in communities hosting a total of 39,700 Syrian refugees.
• Working with nearly 84,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on ways of preventing malnutrition within their families.