2026-04-06 · percent of global refugee-hosting capacity
A few countries host refugees far above the global average
Neighbouring states bear disproportionate burdens.
Refugee hosting is deeply concentrated: a few countries shelter far more refugees per 1,000 residents than the global average, and they are overwhelmingly the neighbours of the crises people flee. In 2026, Asia & the Pacific accounts for 40.6% of global refugee-hosting capacity, Africa 21.8%, and the highest-burden hosts alone 22%.
1 cell = 0.1 percent of global refugee-hosting capacity (0.1% of refugee hosting (population-weighted)) · 1,000 cells
Context
The measure is refugees per 1,000 residents in host countries, from UNHCR data via Our World in Data (2026). On this population-weighted view, Asia & the Pacific accounts for 40.6% of global refugee-hosting capacity, Africa 21.8%, the highest-burden hosts 22%, and the Americas the remaining 15.6%.
Proximity helps explain the pattern: Our World in Data's migration reporting finds that most international migrants don't move very far, with long-distance moves still the exception — for most people, migration means crossing a nearby border, not an ocean. Hosting burdens therefore pile up in states adjacent to the crises people flee.
The source page situates this within a broader picture in which hundreds of millions of people live in a country other than the one where they were born, with related charts tracking refugees by country of asylum and by country of origin.
Refugees per 1,000 residents in host countries (UNHCR via OWID).
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Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-04-06-pol-refugee-host-lebanon-tier