Get the facts about the Syrian refugee crisis—and better understand one of the greatest humanitarian challenges of our time.
Syria’s civil war, which started in 2011, has created the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Half the country’s pre-war population—an estimated 11 million people—have been killed or forced to flee their homes.
Source: Mercy Corps
The United Nations stopped officially tallying the death toll in Syria in 2014, as the war intensified and became more complex.
Source: The New York Times
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. Refugees are entitled to protection under international law.
Source: UNHCR
Worldwide, there are more refugees than at any time since World War II.
Source: UNHCR
Syrians now comprise one of the largest groups of refugees worldwide, making up 32% of the 16.5 million refugees under the mandate of UNHCR.
Source: UNHCR
About half of all Syrian refugees are children.
Source: UNICEF
About 6 in 10 Syrians are displaced from their homes, a number unprecedented in recent history for a single country.
Source: Pew Research Center
There have been 34 confirmed chemical attacks in Syria, in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Source: UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Republic
The latest chemical attacks in Syria happened on April 7, 2018, in Douma. More than 40 people, including children, were killed.
Source: BBC News
The United States has accepted 11 Syrian refugees into the country so far this year.
Source: NPR
Turkey shelters the greatest number of refugees, hosting 2.8 million refugees as of mid-2016. Pakistan, Lebanon, and Iran follow.
Source: UNHCR
To date, thousands of generous donors to GlobalGiving’s Syrian Refugee Relief Fund have supported 70 community-led organizations delivering critical services to Syrian refugees in Syria and neighboring countries.
Source: Syrian Refugee Relief Fund
Syrian refugees around the world need your help.
Featured Banner Photo: A student at a safe space center in a refugee camp in Jordan, a service of the Provide Relief for Syrian Refugees Project by Mercy Corps.Find exactly what you're looking for in our Learn Library by searching for specific words or phrases related to the content you need.
