Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2020

The year 2020 will be remembered as a year like no other. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all facets of life, causing millions of deaths around the world and leading to human suffering, economic recession, restrictions on human mobility and severe limitations on daily life.

While the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on wider cross-border migration and displacement globally is not yet clear, UNHCR data shows that arrivals of new refugees and asylum-seekers were sharply down in most regions – about 1.5 million fewer people than would have been expected in non-COVID circumstances, and reflecting how many of those seeking international protection in 2020 became stranded. Similarly, the United Nations estimate that the pandemic may have reduced the number of international migrants by around two million globally during the first six months of the year. This corresponds to a decrease of around 27 per cent in the expected number of international migrants from July 2019 to June 2020.