Migrations, the number of people fleeing around the world continues to increase: internally displaced persons are on the rise

ROME – As has been the case every year of the last decade – we learn from Openpolisthe independent, non-profit foundation that promotes projects for access to public information, transparency and democratic participation – the number of refugees in the world has increased further in 2021. Most of these people do not leave their country , but those who do often find no acceptance elsewhere.

1) – There are 89.3 million refugees globally in 2021, according to estimates by theUNHCR.

2) – Of these, approximately 30% were refugees (for a total of 27.1 million) and 5% stateless (4.3 million).

3) – The most widely represented category was that of internally displaced persons, i.e. people forced to leave their homes but who do not go beyond the borders of their own country. In this case we are talking about over 53 million people (more than 65% of the total).

Numerous conflicts escalated in 2021. This is the case, for example, with the resettlement of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the conflict in the Ethiopian region of Tigray and the insurgencies in the central Sahel region, especially in Burkina Faso. Added to this is the recent seizure of power by the army in Myanmar and the persistence of conflicts such as those in Venezuela, Syria, and in various parts of the African continent (especially Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Sudan). But it’s not just conflicts that force people to emigrate: the climate crisis, as we have recounted in another study, alone causes more displaced people than all wars and conflicts combined – while remaining unofficially legally recognized.

Since 2012, the number of refugees has tripled. The number of refugees, internally displaced persons and stateless persons in the world (2011-2021) in the last decade has increased (+154%), from 10.5 million in 2011 to 21.3 in 2021. Even more marked in the case of displaced persons internal, increased from 17.7 to 51.3 million, with an increase equal to 230%. More contained instead in the case of stateless persons (+30%). Overall at the end of 2021 there were 89.3 million refugees, 184% more than in 2012, when they were 31.5 million.

What you need to know. Data includes the number of total refugees (those under UNHCR mandate and Palestinian refugees under UNRWA mandate), internally displaced persons (i.e. those who leave their homes but do not make it beyond their country’s borders) and stateless persons . Therefore, “other people at risk” are excluded according to the definition of the UNHCR, with which the figure rises to 121.5 million people.

Obtaining asylum continues to be a difficult process. Simultaneously with the increase in the number of refugees, displaced persons and stateless persons, the number of people seeking asylum in other countries has also gradually increased. If in 2012 there were about 1 million people in the world, in 2021 the figure has risen to well over 4 million – an increase of 450%. However, the most frequent outcome of asylum requests is, today as 10 years ago , refusal: 36% of applicants who submitted an asylum application in 2021 met with a refusal. A share that is still higher today than that of accepted requests (34%), despite the fact that the situation from this point of view has improved in the last decade. While for the remaining cases, 9% resulted in subsidiary protection – by which the UNHCR indicates all forms of protection that do not fall under the 1951 convention – and 21% closed in some other way. In short, waste decreases but remains the most frequent outcome.

Asylum applications accepted and rejected. Over the decade, the percentage of asylum applications that were refused decreased (from 51% to 37%). Conversely, the number of requests accepted increased slightly (from 21% to 27%). Subsidiary protection, on the other hand, remained substantially unchanged, still standing at between 7% and 10%. There are therefore over 326,000 the first asylum requests that were rejected in 2021. Compared to less than 308 thousand who were instead accepted. A very important component is that of requests concluded in another way, i.e. not in refusal but not even with some form of protection. Always above 20% of the total quota (except in 2015, when they were 19%), they even reached 41% in 2016. As the UNHCR explains, these are cases in which asylum seekers do not present themselves to interviews or die during the process, or cases that are closed for administrative reasons.