Indicator Report 2021
Indicator Report 2021
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“This report comes at an important time. In a world where displacement has continued to grow, durable solutions are in short supply, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt acutely in countries that host the largest populations of refugees, the message that emerges from data is clear. While much has been achieved, responsibility sharing must be stepped up to meet the challenges we are facing – both now and in the years to come, not least as we prepare for the medium to long-term impacts of the pandemic. The Global Compact on Refugees, with the multi-stakeholder approach and practical arrangements that it provides, is now more crucial than ever.”
© UNHCR/Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Overall size and evolution of the burden and responsibility
By the end of 2020, the total number of refugees was estimated at 26.4 million. There were 3.5 million more refugees under UNHCR’s mandate in 2020 than in the year of the adoption of the New York Declaration.
By the end of 2020, 86 per cent of people displaced across borders (i.e., refugees and Venezuelans displaced abroad) lived in countries with developing economies. Twenty countries are hosting more than three-quarters of the world’s refugees. Sixteen of these countries were already in the top 20 list in 2016.
Top 20 countries hosting refugees and Venezuelans displaced abroad, in absolute terms, end-2016 and end-2020
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Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ease pressure on host countries
Between 2016 and 2019, bilateral ODA to refugee situations in countries with developing economies increased by another 10 per cent, following a surge of 23 per cent from 2015 to 2016.
During the same period, ‘in-donor refugee costs’ (i.e., official sector expenditures for the sustenance of refugees in donor countries during the first twelve months of their stay) decreased by 42 per cent, owing to fewer arrivals of asylum-seekers and refugees in donor countries and new rules narrowing the definition of what can be included in the calculation of in-donor refugee costs.
Bilateral ODA to refugee situations in countries with developing economies and in-donor refugee costs counted as ODA, 2015-2021
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Enhance refugee self-reliance
Out of the 11.2 million refugees covered by UNHCR’s mapping of national legislations, 8.4 million refugees have either full (52%) or partial (23%) access to key attributes of decent work. In practice, due in part to high employment rates, informal economies, and the COVID-19 pandemic, far fewer refugees have access.
Proportion of refugees in surveyed countries with access to decent work in law, 2021
Around 1.8 million children are out of school, out of a total of 4 million school-age children in countries surveyed by UNHCR.
Gross enrolments ratios by sex, 2019/2020
Limited data used in this first GCR indicator report show that around two-thirds of refugees live in poverty before the pandemic. However, assistance provided by humanitarian agencies, development partners, and Governments has been shown to mitigate or reduce exposure to poverty among refugees. In 2020, UNHCR delivered USD 695 million in cash assistance to some 8.5 million people in over 100 countries, 95 per cent of whom reported improvements in living conditions.
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Switzerland
Finding solutions
There were 2.8 million refugees to have found a solution during the period. This was 435,000 more than in the previous five years (2011-2015). However, in 2020, 16 million refugees were in protracted situations – four million more than in 2016, and only one refugee in 100 found a solution. The pandemic has exacerbated a downward trend that started earlier.
Refugees accessing durable solutions, 2010-2020
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Rwanda
Support conditions in countries of origin for return in safety and dignity
More than 2 million refugees have returned to their country of origin since 2016, compared to 1.8 million between 2011 and 2015.
Top 10 countries for refugee returns, 2016-2020
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Italy
Expand access to third country solutions
Between 2016 and 2020, some six per cent or 286,900 more refugees accessed third-country solutions, compared to the previous five years. They totalled 1.37 million at the end of 2020. After a peak in 2016, a downward trend in admissions can be observed, with a record low in 2020.
Over 1.4 million refugees need to be urgently resettled in 2021, an increase of 25 per cent compared to 2016. Four refugees are admitted through complementary pathways for every refugee admitted through resettlement with UNHCR assistance.
Identified resettlement needs against actual UNHCR-assisted resettlement departures, 2016-2021 (July)
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Moving forward
There was tangible progress towards the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees during the period under review. However, new increases in the scale of the burden and responsibility and several trends show the need for more equitable and predictable sharing.
There are urgent needs for more third-country opportunities, targeted support to enhance the self-reliance of refugees and host communities, more assistance to refugee-hosting countries with lower incomes, and addressing root causes to enable conditions favourable to voluntary repatriation.
While applying the GCR indicator framework has triggered new data collection and analysis, it has also revealed significant data gaps and a critical need to strengthen the implementation and scope of the framework.
© UNHCR/Allana Ferreira
“The Global Compact on Refugees is already making a difference in the lives of refugees and host communities. We need to work together more concertedly to address the remaining data gaps so that we can continue to improve and refine delivery and support to refugees and host communities, and ensure greater responsibility and burden sharing amongst the international community.”