People displaced by violence live in a refugee camp in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in late May Haiti faces brutal gang violence, deteriorating living conditions for millions of people and an inadequate international response to these protracted crises, Amnesty International has reported. Photo by Jonet St Elois/EPA
June 12 (UPI) -- The Americas was the world's leading region for forced displacement in 2025, with 22.8 million refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced people and needing international protection, the United Nations refugee agency reported Friday.
The figure represents an increase from the 21.9 million recorded a year earlier. The rise was driven primarily by crises in Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, Colombia and northern Central America.
The annual report by the United Nations refugee agency also showed a significant shift in the global forced migration landscape: Colombia became the world's leading host country for refugees and people in need of international protection.
By the end of 2025, Colombia was hosting 2.8 million people, most of them Venezuelans, surpassing countries such as Germany, Turkey and Uganda.
