Refugees Hosted Per 1,000 People: Which Countries Took In the Most? (1951–2023)

🌍 REFUGEES HOSTED PER 1,000 PEOPLE — Which countries have carried the largest refugee populations relative to their own population? A country’s refugee total can look very different when population size is taken into account. This visualization compares countries by the number of refugees they hosted per 1,000 residents, revealing how the burden of major refugee crises has been distributed across different countries and across more than seven decades. 📊 Rather than simply ranking countries by the absolute number of refugees, this chart measures refugees relative to the host country's population. This makes it possible to compare countries of very different sizes and see when refugees represented a significant share of the population. The visualization follows the top 15 countries in each year from 1951 to 2023. 🇦🇹 Austria 🇦🇺 Australia 🇭🇰 Hong Kong 🇨🇦 Canada 🇫🇷 France 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 🇩🇪 Germany 🇬🇷 Greece 🇺🇸 United States 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇮🇹 Italy The ranking changes dramatically over time as wars, revolutions, border changes, decolonization, political upheavals and regional conflicts create new waves of displacement. 🇦🇹 Austria, for example, appears prominently in the early part of the visualization, reflecting the country's position during the enormous population movements that followed World War II and subsequent European conflicts. 📈 WHY USE “PER 1,000 PEOPLE”? A country with millions of refugees may not necessarily have the highest relative refugee burden because it may also have a very large population. Measuring refugees per 1,000 residents provides a population-adjusted comparison. For example: • A large country can host millions of refugees while having a relatively modest number per 1,000 residents. • A smaller country can host far fewer refugees in absolute terms but have a much higher refugee-to-population ratio. • This measure helps reveal the relative scale of refugee populations within the host country's society. 📅 PERIOD 1951–2023 📌 METRIC Refugees hosted per 1,000 residents 🌎 COVERAGE Countries and territories with available historical data 📚 SOURCE UNHCR Refugee Statistics / Our World in Data The underlying refugee statistics come from the UNHCR Refugee Population Statistics Database. UNHCR's historical database contains refugee data going back to 1951, the year the organization was created. Our World in Data processes UNHCR data for its historical country-level datasets. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0} ⚠️ IMPORTANT DATA NOTE “Refugees hosted” refers to refugees living in the country of asylum, rather than the number of people who arrived during that particular year. Refugee statistics are therefore a stock measure: they represent the refugee population present at a given point in time. The data should also not automatically be interpreted as a measure of a country's generosity or refugee policy. Geographic proximity to conflicts can have a major influence on where refugees are hosted, particularly when large numbers flee across neighboring borders. UNHCR data can also reflect changes in definitions, registration systems, population estimates and reporting practices over the historical period. Comparisons across very early years should therefore be treated with appropriate caution. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1} This visualization focuses specifically on refugees and should not be confused with broader measures of forced displacement that also include asylum-seekers, internally displaced people and other populations. 🎥 Watch the full timeline to see how the countries carrying the largest refugee populations relative to their own populations changed from 1951 through 2023. If you enjoy historical data visualizations covering population, economics, migration, geography, politics, sports and world history, subscribe for more. #Refugees #Migration #WorldHistory #UNHCR #DataVisualization #RefugeeCrisis #History #GlobalData