Countries Hosting the Most Refugees 2025

What this chart shows: the countries hosting the largest numbers of refugees and other people in need of international protection at the end of 2025, according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. It is the host-country view of the same 35.6 million people counted by country of origin.

How the data is collected: UNHCR compiles the number of refugees in each country of asylum and publishes the end-year totals in its Refugee Data Finder. Its Global Trends report (June 2026) names Colombia, Germany, Turkey, Uganda, Iran, Chad and Pakistan as the countries hosting the largest populations, the same seven that lead this chart.

Background: UNHCR reports that most people fleeing conflict and persecution stay close to home: 65% of refugees at the end of 2025 were hosted in countries neighbouring their own, consistent with previous years. Low- and middle-income countries hosted 68% of refugees and other people in need of international protection. Of the 3.7 million Afghan refugees and others in need of international protection, UNHCR says four in five live in two countries, Iran (1.6 million) and Pakistan (1.3 million).

Limits: the chart counts people, not the size of the host country, so a large country and a small one with the same number rank equally. Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA are not included. Asylum-seekers whose claims are still pending are counted separately.