LONDON: Around 1.3 million people returned to Syria in 2025, marking one of the largest refugee return movements in the world in that year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The number of Syrian refugees has now dropped to 4.9 million as more people have returned to their homes following the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime in December 2024. However, Syria remains one of six countries accounting for the majority of refugees globally, along with Afghanistan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine and Myanmar.
The Syrian civil war, which lasted from 2011 to 2024, displaced 12 million people, with at least 5 million becoming refugees in neighboring countries, including Turkiye, and in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. Ankara has hosted over 3.5 million refugees while in Europe, Germany has taken in the largest number of people fleeing the conflict with some 1 million living in the country.
The Syrian government has reaffirmed it will encourage the “voluntary” return of refugees, as many international sanctions have been lifted to assist the country’s recovery, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
