Countries differ sharply in how many refugees they host

Some countries take in far more refugees than others relative to their population.

A refugee is defined by the UN as someone needing international protection, who has fled their home country and whose home country’s government cannot or will not protect them.

This chart shows the cumulative number of refugees per 1,000 people in the country where they live as of 2023.

There are huge differences between countries: Lebanon hosts 137 refugees for every 1,000 residents — over four times as many as Germany (31) or Poland (25). Those numbers are still much higher than the Netherlands (13) and France (10), far above the United States at just 1.2 refugees per 1,000 residents.

These differences reflect conflicts in neighboring regions and national policies welcoming or deterring refugees.