Refugees of the Syrian Civil War or Syrian refugees are citizens and permanent residents of Syrian Arab Republic, who have fled from their country since the onset of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 and have sought asylum in other countries.

In 2016, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance, of which more than 6 million are internally displaced within Syria, and over 4.8 million are refugees outside of Syria.[31] In January 2017, UNHCR counted 4,863,684 registered refugees.[1] Turkey is the largest host country of registered refugees with over 2.7 million Syrian refugees.[3][32][33] Assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Syria, and Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, is planning largely through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In 2016, pledges have been made to the UNHCR, by various nations, to permanently resettle 170,000 registered refugees.[34]

Number and location of people fleeing the violence in Syria, 13 June 2012.

The Arab Spring uprisings in TunisiaEgyptLibyaBahrain and Yemen inspired protests in Syria, followed by Syrian Army intervention.[35] As Syria descended into civil war,[36] it quickly became divided into

Refugees of the Syrian Civil War
Total population: 5,029,562 refugees (registered, April 2017)[1]
6,130,000–6,320,000 refugees (based on UN estimate, March 2016)[2]
Regions with important populations (over 1,000 refugees)[a]
 Turkey 2,973,980 (registered as of April 2017)[3]
2,967,149 (the highest number registered, 23 March 2017)
 Lebanon 2.2 million (estimated arrivals as of December 2015)
1,048,275 (registered)[4]
 Jordan 1,265,000 (census results as of November 2015)[5]
657,422 (registered July 2016)[6]
 Germany 600,000 (2014 to late 2016)[7]
429,000 (registered by late 2016)
456,023 (applicants by February 2016)
 Saudi Arabia 500,000 (estimated overstays as of 2016)[8][9]
 United Arab Emirates 242,000 (estimated overstays as of 2015)[10][11]
 Iraq (incl. Iraqi Kurdistan) 230,836 (registered)[12]
 Kuwait 155,000+[8][13] (estimated overstays to June 2015)
 Egypt 117,702 (registered by March 2016)
119,665 (UNHCR estimate as of March 2016)[14]
500,000 (Egypt MFA estimate as of September 2016)
 Sweden 110,333 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Hungary 72,505 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Canada 62,000+ (applicants to Feb 2017)
43,000+ (approved as of Feb 2017)
40,081 (resettled as of Feb 2017)[16][17]
 Croatia 55,000 (estimated as of September 2015)[18]
386 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Greece 54,574 (estimated in country May 2016)[19]

5,615 (applicants to December 2015)[15]

 Algeria 43,000 (estimated as of November 2015)
5,721 (registered as of November 2015)[20]
 Qatar 40,000 (estimated overstays 2015)[8]
42 (registered)[8]
 Austria 39,131 (applicants to July 2016)[15]
 Netherlands 31,963 (applicants to July 2016)[15]
 Libya 26,672 (registered as of December 2015)[21]
 Armenia 20,000 (estimated as of October 2016)[22]
 Denmark 19,433 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Bulgaria 17,527 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 United States 16,218 (resettled by November 2016)[23]
 Belgium 16,986 (applicants to July 2016)[15]
 Norway 13,993 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Singapore 13,856 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
  Switzerland 12,931 (applicants to July 2016)[15]
 Serbia (incl. Kosovo) 11,831 (applicants to February 2016)[15]
 France 11,694 (applicants to July 2016)[15]
 United Kingdom 9,467 (applicants to July 2016)[15]
5,102 (resettled as of August 2015)[24]
 Brazil 9,000 (approved)[25]
2,097 (as of November 2015)[26]
 Spain 8,365 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Russia 7,096 (overstays in residence to April 2016)[27]
 Australia 6,000 (resettled to Jan 2017)[28]
 Malaysia 5,000 (estimated in August 2015)[citation needed]
 Tunisia 4,000 (September 2015)[29]
 Cyprus 3,527 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Bahrain 3,500 (estimated June 2015)[8]
 Argentina 3,000 (approved)[30]
 Montenegro 2,975 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Italy 2,538 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Romania 2,525 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Macedonia 2,150 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Malta 1,222 (applicants to December 2015)[15]
 Somalia 1,312 (as of January 2016)
 Finland 1,127 (as of December 2015)[15]
Language: ArabicKurdishTurkishArmenianAramaic
Religion: Sunni IslamChristianityShia IslamYazidismDruze

Refugees of the Syrian Civil War or Syrian refugees are citizens and permanent residents of Syrian Arab Republic, who have fled from their country since the onset of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 and have sought asylum in other countries.

In 2016, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance, of which more than 6 million are internally displaced within Syria, and over 4.8 million are refugees outside of Syria.[31] In January 2017, UNHCR counted 4,863,684 registered refugees.[1] Turkey is the largest host country of registered refugees with over 2.7 million Syrian refugees.[3][32][33] Assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Syria, and Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, is planning largely through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In 2016, pledges have been made to the UNHCR, by various nations, to permanently resettle 170,000 registered refugees.[34]

 

Number and location of people fleeing the violence in Syria, 13 June 2012.

The Arab Spring uprisings in TunisiaEgyptLibyaBahrain and Yemen inspired protests in Syria, followed by Syrian Army intervention.[35] As Syria descended into civil war,[36] it quickly became divided into a complex patchwork of shifting alliances and territories between the Assad government, rebel groups, ethnic groups, and Islamic extremists. By May it was estimated that no more than 300 Syrian refugees had crossed into Turkey.[37] Turkey set up a small camp for those refugees and reported it was preparing for “a worst-case scenario” should refugee numbers increase.[37] By mid-May, about 700 refugees from Tel Kazakh had fled into Lebanon,[38] and the village of Wadi Khaled in northern Lebanon received another 1,350.[39] With the siege of Jisr al-Shughour, the situation on the Turkish-Syrian border deteriorated and thousands fled in anticipation of a Syrian Army attack.[40] Initially it was reported that about 2,500 Syrians crossed the border.[40] The number of refugees housed in Turkish camps exceed 10,000 by mid June,[41][42] and was estimated at 8,500 in Lebanon[43]where the total refugee population was estimated at over 20,000. As Syrian troops amassed at the Turkish border, the flow increased to hundreds of refugees a day by 23 June,[44] reaching a total of 11,700 refugees.[45]

Financial aid[edit]

Donor Funding to December 2015 (in USD)
World 17,029,967,564
 Turkey 8,000,000,000
 United States 4,662,407,369
 European Union 1,834,305,296
 United Kingdom 1,553,345,642
 Germany 1,296,228,090
 Kuwait 1,035,624,326
Private 1,017,484,080
 Canada 969,710,000
 Saudi Arabia 737,120,785
 Japan 447,688,208
 UAE 435,868,141
 Norway 356,803,764
 Netherlands 338,491,157
 United Nations 247,344,198
 Qatar 236,891,320
  Switzerland 211,962,092
 Denmark 203,691,497
 Sweden 193,258,749
 Australia 176,605,888
 France 150,236,015
 Italy 111,443,572

Figures above are donations to international organizations as compiled by the Financial Tracking Service, of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs[155] Not included are: government spending on domestic hosting and resettlement. Private donations are from individuals and organizations. United Nation’s donations are from unearmarked funds not attributable to specific member states. Figures for Turkey include expenditures not tracked by the FTS.[156][157]

Aid delivery[edit]

Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan

Financial aid from government, non-government, and private donors to support Syrian refugees is largely channeled through established aid organizations, and national government agencies. These organizations and agencies deliver aid directly to refugees in the form of food, education, housing, clothing and medical care, along with migration and resettlement services. Complete figures for aid delivery since 2011 are not available. The table below shows cumulative known aid delivered by the largest aid organizations, between April 2011 and December 2015[158] . en.wikipedia, 2017