Discover which countries people are fleeing from across the world, and the reason behind their decision to move
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Fleeing the country you’re born and raised in is certainly no easy feat. Leaving behind everything you’ve ever known, escaping persecution or danger, and searching for a better, safer life takes a toll on whoever must do so. For some, years of thought goes into this decision, and for others, unanticipated conflict leaves them with no other choice but to leave suddenly – without time to even pack personal belongings.
As of 2025, 117.3 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide, increasing by 52 million in just a decade. 67 per cent originate from just five countries: Venezuela, Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Sudan.
There are many reasons why people decide to flee their countries – escaping violence, war, poverty, starvation, persecution or the consequences of climate change and natural disasters. Often, people face a combination of these circumstances. The journeys can be long and dangerous, and many don’t make it. Since 2014, the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project has reported the deaths of 79,036 people. 45,000 of these deaths were caused by drowning, and the cause of 11,000 deaths are still unknown. 2024 was the deadliest year on record for migrant deaths and disappearances, with a current toll of 9,197.
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What are some of the countries that people are fleeing from, and what’s causing them to make that challenging choice?
Venezuela
Nearly eight million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2014 in search of a better life. The majority – approximately 6.7 million – flee to Latin America and the Caribbean. Colombia hosts the highest concentration of Venezuelan migrants – 2.8 million. However, those who stay in Venezuela are struggling, as an estimated 7.9 million people required humanitarian assistance in 2024, and most households live in poverty or extreme poverty.
Venezuelans fleeing their country risk their lives in search of a better future. Those hoping to go northward toward the US must cross the Darién Gap, one of the harshest and most dangerous migration routes in the world – not just because of nature, but because of the traffickers and criminals who target migrants on the move. In 2024, 68 per cent of the 302,203 people that crossed the Darién Gap were Venezuelan, and the amount of children and adolescents migrating through the Darién Gap increased by 40 per cent.
In the last decade, Venezuela has taken a drastic turn due to political unrest and economic decline. The country is a ‘petrostate’ meaning their economy is too heavily dependent on the export of natural oil and gas, so any fluctuations in oil prices causes significant economic shockwaves. Governments of petrostates are often highly concentrated in an elite minority leading to widespread corruption. Currently, Venezuela is the third most corrupt country in the world and has the highest crime rates of any country.
Hyperinflation, rampant violence, gang warfare, soaring crime rates, and shortages of food, medicine and essential services have forced millions to flee. Growing tensions after the US launched strikes on Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro will likely cause migration to increase, as people aren’t safe in their own country.
Syria
In March 2011, a peaceful protest in the southern city of Daraa was met with government violence, marking the beginning of the Syrian refugee crisis. The demonstrations were held throughout Syria after a group of teenagers were arrested for anti-government graffiti, but they were violently suppressed by government security forces. The conflict quickly escalated, and the country descended into a civil war that has since forced millions to flee their homes.
Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 13 million people either fled the country or are displaced within its borders, and more than 16 million people inside Syria need humanitarian assistance. Almost half of the country’s population do not have access to clean drinking water. Most Syrian refugees stayed in the Middle East, as Syria’s neighbours, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey host over 90 per cent. Around 2.3 million Syrian refugees are in Turkey, as of 2025.
The conflict lasted 14 years and has an estimated death toll of more than half a million people (656,493), 199,068 of them are civilians, including men, women and children. However, in December 2024, President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, and with his departure brought the fall of the Assad Government and marked the end of more than 50 years of the Assad family’s rule.
A 2025 report by the World Bank estimated the reconstruction costs in Syria to be over US$216 billion. During the war, the Syrian economy declined by 50 per cent, and its currency lost 99 per cent of its value. Today, one Syrian pound (SYP) is equal to 0.0001 British pound (GBP). As of November 2025, more than 1.2 million Syrians have crossed back to Syria from other countries, and more than 1.9 million internally displaced people have returned to their homes. However, there is little or no electricity and large areas are still littered with mines and booby traps.
Ukraine
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine. Attacks by Russian forces were reported in major cities across Ukraine, including Berdyansk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, and the capital Kyiv.
In total, there has been 53,006 civilian casualties, including 14,534 deaths, since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. This is only increasing, as the number of casualties for the first ten months of 2025 (12,062) has already exceeded the total for all of 2024 (9,112), rising by 27 per cent.
Russia targeted population centres and critical civilian infrastructure, forcing nearly a third of the population to leave their homes for their own safety. 6.9 million people fled Ukraine and crossed into neighbouring countries including Germany, Poland, Czechia, and the United Kingdom. As of 2025, Germany holds 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees, the most of any country.
More than 2.5 million, or one in ten homes across the country have been damaged or destroyed by the invasion, leaving numerous Ukrainians in ill-fitted housing conditions for life-threatening freezing temperatures. Multifamily buildings like apartment complexes in urban areas make up 80 per cent of this damage. 12.7 million people across Ukraine require humanitarian assistance as of 2025, including nearly two million children. The war has impacted the Ukrainian economy, putting almost 25 per cent of the population into poverty.
Afghanistan
The Taliban in Afghanistan returned to power in 2021, two decades after the US ousted them. Since then, under their harsh rule, they have cracked down on women’s rights, stripping them of their freedoms. Women are banned from any education beyond primary school level, as well as employment. They also can’t travel long distances without a male guardian.
Music, arts, paintings and even poetry are also prohibited. According to Amnesty International, the Taliban has carried out random arrests, forcible disappearances and torture, and claims people have been executed without trial. The IOM estimated that approximately 20,000 to 30,000 Afghan nationals were migrating abroad each week around the time the Taliban captured the capital of Kabul in 2021.
Poverty and hunger are widespread within the country, and the economy has been severely impacted by sanctions against the Taliban. According the UNDP, around 85 per cent of Afghans live on less than US$1 a day (£0.75).
After 40 years of conflict and instability, an estimated 23.7 million Afghans – over half of the population – need humanitarian aid. In 2025, 10.3 million Afghans are displaced within their country or in neighbouring countries. The Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan hold the largest number of Afghan refugees. Iran hosts around 3.5 million, while Pakistan hosts 1.6 million. However, Amnesty International reported the latest UN figures revealed that Iran and Pakistan have unlawfully expelled more than 2.6 million people the country this year, 60 per cent being women and children.
Sudan
In 2023, civil war in Sudan broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Now, as the war enters its third year, 12 million people are displaced and 30.4 million need humanitarian support. 4.3 million people have fled to neighbouring countries, most of these being women and children. Children are even fleeing alone, without their parents. Attacks on humanitarian aid workers have made it even more difficult to deliver aid where it is needed.
People in Sudan experience frequent attacks and human rights violations. Sexual violence is widespread, and the RSF’s atrocities amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, according to Amnesty International.
More than 70 per cent of Sudan’s hospitals have been destroyed, leaving millions without access to essential medical care, as disease and famine surges. Due to the lack of healthcare, a cholera outbreak has spread across Sudan, resulting in more than 120,000 confirmed cases and over 3,000 deaths. More people are living in famine conditions in Sudan than the rest of the world combined.
Every year, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) publishes its Emergency Watchlist, which identifies countries at the highest risk of new or worsening humanitarian crises. For two consecutive years, Sudan has been at the top of that list. Even before the war in April 2023, Sudan had a humanitarian crisis that left 15.8 million people in need of aid.
