The number of refugees worldwide fell in 2025 for the first time in more than a decade, according to a report by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR released on Thursday.
According to UNHCR, 41.6 million people fled violence and conflict in their homeland last year, down 3% from a year earlier.
The decline was driven in part by a rise in returns, although many were not voluntary, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih.
He warned that forcing people back to countries that remain unsafe or where they have no means of making a living could trigger new waves of displacement.
Among the largest groups of returnees were millions of Afghans who were forced to leave Pakistan and Iran in 2025, despite having lived there for years in some cases.
The UNHCR said 5.4 million people newly fled abroad last year because of conflict and persecution. About two-thirds remained close to their countries of origin, often in states struggling with their own economic challenges.
According to the UNHCR, Germany is one of the countries with the highest number of refugees, ranking just behind Colombia and ahead of Turkey. There were 2.8 million refugees living in Colombia, 2.7 million in Germany, and 2.4 million in Turkey.
Around 70% of refugees have been living in exile for more than five years and have little prospect of seeing the conditions that forced them to flee resolved, according to UNHCR. Salih said he wants to see that share to be reduced by half by 2035.
Salih said the primary goal was peace in refugees' home countries. Failing that, refugees should be given greater access to education and more opportunities to integrate and build new lives. He said inclusion benefited host countries by enabling refugees to contribute to their economies and social systems.
