UNHCR says 1.3 million Syrians returned home in 2025

Geneva, June 11 (SANA) Around 1.3 million Syrians returned home in 2025, making Syria one of the world’s largest refugee return movements and reducing the global Syrian refugee population to 4.9 million, the U.N. refugee agency said on Thursday.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in its annual report that the number of Syrian returnees nearly tripled compared with 2024 following the fall of the deposed regime in December 2024.

According to the report, Syria was among six countries accounting for the majority of refugee and displacement returns worldwide, alongside Afghanistan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine and Myanmar.

The agency said the Syrian returns formed part of a broader global trend that saw 14.7 million refugees and internally displaced people return to their areas of origin in 2025, up 50% from the previous year and the second-highest annual total recorded since 1965.

Despite the increase in returns, UNHCR warned that many returnees continue to face significant challenges, including reconstruction needs, limited access to essential services, unemployment and instability in some areas.

The report said the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide declined in 2025 for the first time in more than a decade, reflecting higher return rates despite ongoing conflicts and humanitarian crises.

The report also said developments in the Middle East continued to influence displacement trends in 2026. Iran witnessed large-scale displacement following the U.S.-Israeli-Iranian war, while around one million people were displaced in Lebanon as a result of Israeli attacks and evacuation operations.

Globally, the number of refugees and people in refugee-like situations stood at 41.6 million, including nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees. The agency said 5.4 million people were newly displaced during the year due to conflict and persecution.

UNHCR added that it aims to reduce the number of refugees living in prolonged displacement by half by 2035 through expanded access to education and employment and support for safe, voluntary and sustainable returns.