(Corrects total number of asylum-seekers to 596,600 from 740,000)
June 18 (Reuters) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which marks World Refugee Day on June 20, says the global refugee population rose 14 percent last year, mainly due to a rapid exodus from Iraq.
Here are some facts provided by the UNHCR about refugees, internally displaced people, asylum-seekers and stateless people around the world in 2006 (latest figures in brackets for Iraq):
REFUGEES
Total - 9.9 million (not including 4.3 million Palestinian refugees cared for by another U.N. agency, UNRWA). This was a 14 percent rise on 2005, due mainly to 1.2 million Iraqi refugees and a revised estimate of the refugee population in the United States. The Iraqi refugee total has since risen to 2.2 million.
TOP COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
Afghanistan - 2.1 million
Iraq - 1.5 million (now 2.2 million)
Sudan - 686,000
Somalia - 460,000
Democratic Republic of the Congo - about 400,000
Burundi - about 400,000
MAIN COUNTRIES OF ASYLUM
Pakistan - 1 million
Iran - 968,000
United States - 844,000
Syria - 702,000 (now 1.4 million)
Germany - 605,00
PEOPLE INTERNALLY DISPLACED BY CONFLICT
Total - 24.5 million (estimated by Norwegian Refugee Council), of which 12.9 million are protected or assisted by the UNHCR.
MAIN COUNTRIES WITH INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE:
Colombia - 3 million
Iraq - 1.8 million (now more than 2 million)
Uganda - 1.6 million
Sudan - 5 million (of whom UNHCR assists 1.3 million)
DRC - 1.1 million
ASYLUM SEEKERS
Total - 596,600, an 11 percent drop compared to 2005
Europe - 299,000
Africa - 159,000
Americas - 78,000
Asia - 53,500
Oceania - 7,100
STATELESSNESS
Total - 5.8 million (accurate statistics are lacking; UNHCR estimates that the real total could be as high as 15 million)
