The United Nations Refugee Agency reports that more than 117 million people are currently forcibly displaced globally, the highest number ever recorded and the fourth consecutive annual record. The drivers include ongoing conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Ukraine, and multiple other active conflict zones, as well as climate-related displacement in the Sahel and South Asia that is becoming an increasing proportion of total forced migration.
Host communities in countries neighboring conflict zones are bearing disproportionate humanitarian and economic burdens. Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Uganda, and Pakistan collectively host tens of millions of refugees with limited international financial support relative to the scale of need. Western nations that contribute the most to UNHCR funding are receiving the smallest share of refugees relative to their capacity, a disproportion that generates political tensions both in host countries and in donor nations where political backlash against refugee programs affects funding levels.
