Top Countries Hosting Child Refugees in 2022: Africa Dominates

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reports that children still face immense danger simply seeking safety within their own countries.

Many children, and adults, seek refuge in internal displacement within their own nations. UNICEF recorded that at the end of 2022, approximately 62.5 million people were internally displaced due to violence and conflict in their countries. Many of these conflicts and acts of violence have been ongoing for years.

"During 2022 alone, more than 28.3 million new displacements due to conflict were recorded. In the same year, disasters including earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods caused another 32.6 million internally displaced persons," UNICEF wrote on its official website.

UNICEF explains that, assuming the proportion of children among the internally displaced population is the same as the proportion of children in the national population, an estimated 25.8 million children were internally displaced due to violence and conflict at the end of 2022. This figure represents 41% of the total number of internally displaced persons in those countries.

"An additional 3.8 million children were displaced due to natural disasters," UNICEF stated.

UNICEF says that the majority of these displaced children live in sub-Saharan Africa. The Middle East, Afghanistan, and Ukraine are also regions highly vulnerable to internal displacement due to conflict.

Based on the numbers, the Democratic Republic of Congo is recorded as having the highest number of internally displaced children in the world, with 3 million children in 2022. Syria is second with 2.6 million children.

Third is Afghanistan with 2.2 million internally displaced children. Somalia and Yemen follow in fourth and fifth place with 2.1 million children each.

Nigeria and Ethiopia are sixth and seventh, with 1.8 million internally displaced children each. Sudan follows in eighth place with 1.7 million children.

Finally, Colombia and Ukraine have 1.2 million and 1.1 million displaced children respectively.

(Also read: UNICEF: 43 Million Children Displaced Due to Extreme Weather, Storms the Biggest Cause)