Global forced displacement declined for the first time in a decade in 2025, but millions of refugees remain trapped in long-term exile, prompting a call from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for a renewed international push to assist displaced people to rebuild their lives.

According to UNHCR’s 2025 Global Trends Report, the number of refugees worldwide fell by 3% to 41.6 million. The report also recorded significant progress in returns, with 14.7 million displaced people returning to their countries or areas of origin during the year, including 4.4 million refugees and 10.3 million internally displaced people.

Refugee returns reached their second-highest level in six decades, driven largely by movements back to Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria. But despite these gains, UNHCR warned that seven in 10 refugees remain in protracted displacement, often living below the poverty line and dependent on humanitarian assistance.

Launching the report, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih called for a shift from managing displacement to creating pathways toward self-reliance and durable solutions.

“For too many refugees, displacement starts as a lifeline but lasts a lifetime,” Salih said. “Humanitarian aid saves lives, but it is not the end point and does not enable refugees to become active agents in control of their futures.”

Salih outlined a new UNHCR initiative aimed at reducing by more than half over the next decade the number of refugees living in long-term displacement and relying on humanitarian assistance. The goal would be pursued through a combination of voluntary returns, expanded resettlement and humanitarian pathways, and greater inclusion of refugees in national education, health, financial and labour systems.

UNHCR said the initiative is particularly focused on low- and middle-income countries, which host the majority of the world’s refugees and often face significant economic pressures.

The report found that more than 70% of refugees and others in need of international protection originated from six countries: Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela. The largest refugee-hosting countries in 2025 were Colombia, Germany, Türkiye, Uganda, Iran, Chad and Pakistan.

The agency also reported some progress in addressing statelessness, with nearly 46,000 people acquiring citizenship across 24 countries during 2025. However, the global number of stateless people still rose to an estimated 4.5 million.

UNHCR stressed that resolving major conflicts remains the most effective way to reduce displacement, while calling for increased investment to help refugees become economically self-sufficient and contribute to the communities that host them.

“Asylum and protection are life-saving and not up for debate, but we cannot accept a future in which millions of refugees remain trapped for years or decades without realistic prospects of rebuilding their lives,” Salih said.