Global Displacement Trends and the Influx of Returns

The year 2025 witnessed a remarkable shift in global displacement patterns, with nearly 15 million forcibly displaced individuals returning to their places of origin. This represents the most substantial surge in returns recorded by the United Nations, signaling a potential, albeit complex, turning point after years of escalating displacement. As the world observed World Refugee Day, the focus intensified on the circumstances surrounding these returns and the challenges faced by those embarking on the journey home.

According to the latest data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), approximately 117.8 million people worldwide remain forcibly displaced. This staggering figure, equivalent to the populations of major countries like Egypt or the Philippines, encompasses refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), Palestinian refugees under UNRWA’s mandate, and other individuals requiring international protection. While the overall number remains high, 2025 marked the first decline in forced displacement in a decade, primarily driven by these large-scale returns.

The breakdown of the displaced population reveals that 68.6 million are internally displaced within their own countries due to conflict or other crises. Additionally, 28.5 million are refugees under UNHCR's mandate, 9 million are asylum seekers awaiting protection decisions, 7.2 million require international protection, and 6 million are Palestinian refugees under UNRWA. By the close of 2025, 41.6 million refugees resided outside their countries of origin, with nearly half originating from just four nations: Venezuela, Palestine, Ukraine, and Syria. Conversely, a concentrated number of host countries, including Jordan, Colombia, Germany, and Turkey, bore a significant portion of the responsibility for providing refuge.

The Nature of Returns: Hope and Hardship

While the desire to return home is a sentiment shared by many displaced individuals, the UNHCR cautions that the conditions awaiting them are frequently far from ideal. Many returnees confront persistent violence, instability, and a lack of essential services, raising critical questions about the safety and sustainability of these journeys. The nearly 15 million returnees in 2025 represent only about 12 percent of the total forcibly displaced population, indicating the vast majority still await a safe return.

The majority of these returns were by IDPs, with 10.3 million individuals returning to their homes within their own countries. Refugee returns also saw a significant increase, with 4.36 million refugees going back home—nearly triple the figure from 2024. These refugee returns were highly concentrated, with almost 98 percent heading back to just five countries: Afghanistan (1.95 million), Syria (1.34 million), Sudan (651,500), South Sudan (199,300), and Ukraine (139,300).

Afghanistan: A Return Under Duress

Afghanistan experienced one of the most substantial and abrupt mass movements of people in recent history, with nearly two million Afghans returning home in 2025. For many, this return was not voluntary but rather a consequence of restrictive government policies in host countries like Iran and Pakistan, where millions of Afghans had lived for decades. Maryam, a 30-year-old widow who returned from Iran with her two sons after six years, articulated the profound challenges: "Now I have nothing – no job, no home, and no one to turn to." Her personal anguish is compounded by seeing her 15-year-old son, Sadeq, seeking work instead of pursuing his education, a dream he suppresses to spare her worry.

UNHCR interviews with Afghan returnees paint a stark picture: 80 percent of households reported skipping at least one meal a day, and over a third lacked access to medical services. These returns have continued into the current year, with an estimated 678,500 returning in the first five months. The UN has expressed concern that the scale and speed of these returns risk further destabilizing Afghanistan, a nation already grappling with systemic poverty, limited infrastructure, and cuts to foreign aid. While 5.8 million Afghan refugees were recorded in 2024, this number dropped to 3.7 million last year, with 2.9 million Afghans returning home, largely due to policy amendments in host countries.

Syria: Navigating a Changed Homeland

In 2025, approximately 1.3 million Syrians returned from abroad, nearly tripling the previous year's figure, while an additional two million internally displaced Syrians also went home. This reduced the global Syrian refugee population from 6 million to 4.9 million. The fall of the al-Assad regime in December 2024, after 54 years in power, marked a significant turning point following a 14-year war that triggered one of the world's largest migration crises. At its peak in 2021, some 6.8 million Syrians, roughly a third of the population, had fled the country.

Hiam, a 37-year-old Syrian, recounted her family's return after more than a decade in a host country. She described the return as "beautiful in the sense of going back to one’s country, but it was very exhausting physically, emotionally, financially, and mentally, because everything has changed." The high cost of living in their host country was a primary driver for their decision to return. Upon arriving in Syria, she found a vastly altered landscape: "We returned to Syria, thank God, but in the beginning it was difficult because we didn’t find homes or anything. Syria now is completely different from when we left."

UNHCR data indicates that 556,000 Syrians returned from Turkey, 465,000 from Lebanon, and 256,000 from Jordan. Encouragingly, over 70 percent of returnees reported improvements in security and freedom of movement, and nearly three-quarters of Syrian refugees abroad expressed a desire to eventually return home. Returns have continued into 2026, reaching 549,800 by mid-May, partly propelled by deteriorating conditions in Lebanon.

Sudan: Adjusting to a Fractured Landscape

Sudan also saw a substantial influx of returnees in 2025, with approximately 651,000 refugees and 2.9 million IDPs returning, primarily from neighboring Egypt (405,700) and South Sudan (208,700). Most settled in Gezira, Sennar, and Khartoum states, areas where basic services are severely degraded and unexploded ordnance remains a persistent danger, according to the UNHCR.

Ansam Rustom shared her family's experience of leaving Khartoum shortly after the war erupted in April 2023. "Every day, there were memories of the war, of one’s home, of the things lost, and the grief inside. It stayed with us for years." After three difficult years, they made the challenging decision to return due to "very difficult family circumstances." Rustom noted that since their return, she and her children have gradually adjusted and recovered psychologically. She reflected, "We tasted the horrors of war, a period that was a great lesson for us. It showed me what wars mean, to leave your home when you are forced to."

Internally Displaced Persons: A Similar Struggle

Beyond refugees, over 10.3 million IDPs returned home in 2025. The Democratic Republic of Congo (3.6 million), Sudan (2.9 million), and Syria (2 million) accounted for more than 80 percent of all IDP returnees. In Ukraine, 3.7 million IDPs remained displaced by the end of 2025, with 668,000 newly displaced within the country and 579,000 returning to their places of origin during the year.

"Returning was beautiful in the sense of going back to one’s country, but it was very exhausting physically, emotionally, financially, and mentally, because everything has changed." - Hiam, 37, Syrian returnee.

The stories of these returnees underscore the complex reality of going home. While the act of returning can bring a sense of relief and belonging, it often involves confronting profound changes, destroyed infrastructure, and lingering instability, demanding immense resilience from those seeking to rebuild their lives.

Source: ‘We tasted the horrors of war’: Stories of refugees who returned home