The Middle East Produces Most of the Refugees--and Hosts Them, As Well

President Trump's travel ban has once again been put on hold on by the courts and has dropped out of general view, although it has reverberated around the world. It was motivated not just by threats of terrorism by especially by the xenophobia associated with having to cope with refugees. NPR yesterday had a very nice story reminding us that while the Middle East and Western Asia are currently producing the vast majority of refugees in the world, they are also hosting most of those refugees. 

The flow of refugees is steadily increasing, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). As of mid-2016, there were 16.5 million refugees globally, 5 million more than in mid-2013. More than 30 percent of all refugees as of mid-2016 came from Syria, the largest source of global refugees.

If we look at total numbers you can see in the graph below that Turkey is currently hosting the greatest number of refugees--mostly from Syria. And, by the way, the U.S. State Department Humanitarian Information Unit has a nice infographic with more detail about Syrian refugees in Turkey. 

The picture looks a little different if we consider refugees per capita. That puts Lebanon, rather than Turkey, on top.