War, conflict, natural disasters, economic uncertainty, educational and employment opportunities and the chance to reunite with family members living abroad are just a handful of the reasons people migrate. Some leave by choice; some are forced to flee. Those that flee may try to seek safety within their home country or cross a border to a neighboring country. They may leave by boat, by car, by plane or on foot. They may leave with their families or alone. They may live in a large city or in a rural refugee camp. They may be able to return home safely and quickly or they may live in limbo for years. They may be unrecognized as citizens of the countries they have lived in for generations.

While displaced persons’ primary concern is safety, most want to return home.  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the global non-governmental organization charged with caring for displaced persons, pursues one of three durable solutions with the populations under its protection.  Ideally, those who have fled either within their own countries or to another are able to be repatriated back home.  For the past ten years, 14 refugees have repatriated to their homeland for every refugee resettled to a new country, including 604,000 in the past year.

For those unable to return home but residing in a welcoming country of asylum, refugees integrate locally and rebuild their lives.  In the past decade, more than 1.1 million refugees were granted citizenship by their asylum country.   However, as developing countries are host to four fifths of the world’s refugees, they are not always able to offer permanent haven to these migrants.  Less than one percent of the world’s refugees are resettled.  In the past year, 88,800 refugees were resettled to 16 countries, with the highest number, but smallest per capita percentage, to the United States.