Honduras: Country Report | 2024
AI Generated Analysis based on UNHCR Forced Displacement Statisitics.
Executive Summary
Of course. Here is the executive summary.
Key Trends: The Unraveling Displacement Crisis in Honduras
A world in turmoil is producing crises of unprecedented scale, and nowhere is this more evident than in Central America, where Honduras stands at the epicentre of an unraveling displacement emergency. The sheer scale of forced movement is staggering: while over 6.7 million Hondurans are displaced globally, a deepening internal crisis has left over half a million people of concern within the country’s own borders. The vast majority—over 305,000—are internally displaced, a population that is growing at an alarming rate, with one group surging by more than 131,000 individuals in the past year alone. This is a crisis of the vulnerable, with a disproportionately young and female population facing acute risks of gender-based violence and interrupted education.
The humanitarian fallout from Honduras radiates across the Americas, placing immense pressure on regional stability and protection systems. The responsibility for hosting displaced Hondurans is not broadly shared; it is heavily concentrated, with the United States and Mexico together hosting the overwhelming majority. Simultaneously, Honduras itself is evolving into a key transit and destination country for those fleeing other regional crises. This complex dynamic is straining national asylum systems to their breaking point. Asylum-seekers face growing backlogs and a deeply fragmented protection landscape, where the chance of receiving refugee status depends less on the merits of their claim and more on the country in which they apply—with recognition rates for Hondurans varying from as low as 3.5% to as high as 49% across different host nations.
Ultimately, this report reveals a profound and widening gap between identifying those in need of protection and providing them with a future. The data presents a stark reality: for the hundreds of Hondurans granted refugee status between 2019 and 2024, there is not a single corresponding record of a durable solution being achieved through resettlement, local integration, or voluntary return. This is not merely a data vacuum; it represents lives in limbo and a collective failure to fulfill the promise of international protection. Without renewed political will and a tangible commitment to expanding solutions, the cycle of displacement will continue to accelerate, leaving millions across the region without safety, dignity, or hope.
Population Overview
Population Overview: A Deepening Internal Crisis in Honduras
The humanitarian landscape in Honduras is characterized by a large and growing crisis of internal displacement, driven by pervasive violence and instability. The data reveals that of the 553,000 people of concern to UNHCR in Honduras, the vast majority are internally displaced persons (IDPs), numbering over 305,000, alongside 247,000 ‘Others of concern’. Together, these two groups account for over 99 per cent of the total, starkly overshadowing the comparatively small populations of refugees (551) and asylum-seekers (298).
This situation is not static; it is worsening. Trend analysis since 2019 shows a significant and sustained increase in the IDP population, underscoring the protracted nature of the crisis. This alarming trajectory is further evidenced by a dramatic 88 per cent surge in one population group between year-end 2023 and 2024, an increase of more than 131,000 individuals in a single year. The absence of any recorded returns during this period highlights the persistent lack of durable solutions for those uprooted within their own country.
Behind these stark numbers lies a story of profound human vulnerability. The demographic profile of forcibly displaced people in Honduras is overwhelmingly youthful, with a pronounced gender imbalance. The population pyramid’s expansive base indicates a high proportion of children and adolescents, while gender-disaggregated data shows that females outnumber males across most age cohorts. This demographic reality points to significant and specific protection needs. The high proportion of women and girls necessitates targeted interventions for sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention and response, while the large youth population demands urgent investment in education, child protection, and psychosocial support.
While primarily a country of internal displacement, Honduras also hosts a small refugee population. The composition of this group is highly concentrated, with refugees from a single country of origin accounting for 77 per cent of the top five nationalities, suggesting a localized and acute driver of cross-border flight into the country. Overall, the data paints a clear picture of a complex and escalating internal crisis whose demographic profile requires a tailored and robust humanitarian response.
Demographics
AI Insight: Treemap of populations of concern in Honduras, where Internally displaced persons and Others of concern to UNHCR constitute the vast majority of the 553,000 individuals., This treemap illustrates the composition of the 553,000 individuals classified as populations of concern in Honduras for 2024. The data is heavily concentrated in two main categories which visually dominate the chart.
The largest group is ‘Internally displaced persons (IDPs)’, accounting for 305,126 individuals. The second-largest group is ‘Others of concern to UNHCR’, with 247,000 individuals. Together, these two populations represent over 99% of the total.
The remaining categories are significantly smaller: - Refugees: 551 individuals - Asylum-seekers: 298 individuals - Stateless persons: 139 individuals
The dataset also includes categories for ‘Returned refugees’ and ‘Returned IDPs’, both of which are recorded with zero individuals.
AI Insight: Population pyramid of forcibly displaced and stateless people in Honduras by age and gender, where the population is predominantly young, with a higher proportion of females than males across most age groups., This population pyramid visualizes the age and gender distribution of 2,238,891 forcibly displaced and stateless individuals in Honduras as of 2024. The data has 100% gender disaggregation.
The chart displays age cohorts vertically and the percentage of the population horizontally, with males on one side and females on the other. The pyramid has a wide base and tapers towards the top, a classic ‘expansive’ shape indicative of a very young population with high birth rates and lower life expectancy.
Key statistical observations include: - Overall Population Structure: The population is youthful, with the largest proportions concentrated in the youngest age groups (0-4, 5-11, and 12-17). The proportion of the population steadily decreases in each subsequent older age cohort. - Gender Imbalance: There is a notable gender imbalance, with females outnumbering males. The average proportion per age bracket for females is 9.1%, compared to 7.6% for males. The maximum proportion in a single age group is significantly higher for females (28.9%) than for males (22.1%), likely in the 0-4 age bracket. - Demographic Details: The population is divided into six age categories. The distribution is heavily skewed towards the young, with the smallest cohorts being the elderly.
Humanitarian Implications: This demographic profile highlights significant needs for programs focused on children and youth, such as education, child protection, and maternal and child healthcare. The higher proportion of women and girls suggests a need for targeted services, including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention and response, and reproductive health support.
Trends Over Time
AI Insight: Column chart of population types in Honduras from 2019 to 2024, where the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is substantially larger than all other categories and has increased over the period., This column chart presents the number of people of concern (in thousands) in Honduras, broken down by population type for each year from 2019 to 2024. The data covers six population categories, including Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and Stateless persons.
The statistical profile reveals a highly skewed distribution. The key insight is the overwhelming scale of the Internally Displaced Persons population compared to other groups. The maximum recorded value in the dataset is 305,126, while the median value is only 112, and the 75th percentile is 47,892. This large discrepancy indicates that the IDP population is orders of magnitude larger than the other categories and is the primary driver of the overall figures.
Over the six-year period, the IDP population shows a significant upward trend, pointing to a growing internal displacement situation in Honduras. In contrast, other populations of concern, such as refugees and asylum-seekers, represent much smaller numbers and remain relatively stable. The data also confirms that there were zero ‘Returned refugees’ or ‘Returned IDPs’ recorded during this timeframe.
AI Insight: A column chart showing the changes in population groups in Honduras from 2023 to 2024, where one group saw a major increase of 88% (+131,557 people), while other groups experienced decreases., This column chart provides a comparative analysis of UNHCR’s populations of concern in Honduras, detailing the numerical and percentage changes between year-end 2023 and the latest data from 2024. The data reveals a dynamic situation with significant shifts among different population categories.
The most prominent change is a substantial increase in one population group, which grew by 131,557 individuals, representing an 88% rise from its 2023 figure. This drives the overall growth in the mean population size per group from 70,157 in 2023 to 92,093 in 2024. In contrast, the chart also indicates that at least two other population groups experienced a decrease in their recorded numbers during this period. Two of the six tracked population groups showed no significant change.
Contextually, these shifts reflect the complex displacement landscape in Honduras. A large increase could correspond to a rise in internally displaced persons (IDPs) or other populations of concern due to factors such as persistent violence, socio-economic instability, and climate-related events. Decreases in groups like asylum-seekers or refugees could be attributed to onward movements, local integration, or other durable solutions. The overall data points to a volatile and evolving humanitarian context requiring close monitoring.
AI Insight: Horizontal bar chart of the top countries of origin for refugees in Honduras in 2024, where the top country accounts for a significantly larger number of refugees than all other countries combined., This horizontal bar chart presents the number of refugees in Honduras by their top five countries of origin for the year 2024. The data reveals a highly skewed distribution, dominated by a single country of origin.
Statistical analysis of the five data points shows a maximum value of 155 refugees from the top country of origin. The remaining four countries have significantly fewer refugees, with counts of 27, 10, 5, and 5 people respectively. The total number of refugees from these five countries is 202.
The leading country of origin alone accounts for approximately 77% of the refugees from this group. The mean number of refugees per country is 40.4, but the median is only 10, highlighting the strong influence of the outlier. This distribution pattern suggests a specific, acute situation in the primary country of origin driving displacement to Honduras, compared to smaller, more stable flows from the other nations listed.
Geography & Movements
Geography & Movements: The Complex Dynamics of Displacement in Central America
The geography of displacement originating from Honduras reveals a pattern of movement heavily concentrated within the Americas, underscoring the regional nature of this crisis. By 2024, the vast majority of the more than 6.7 million forcibly displaced Hondurans were hosted in just a handful of countries. The data reveals a highly skewed distribution, with the United States hosting an estimated 2.54 million and Mexico around 700,000 individuals. This extreme concentration places immense pressure on the protection and integration systems of these two nations.
Behind these stark numbers, a wider analysis shows that while 28 countries host people of concern from Honduras, 75 per cent of these nations host fewer than 1,158 individuals each. The significant disparity between the mean and median number of displaced persons per country confirms that the responsibility for providing refuge is not broadly shared, but rather falls upon states along established north-bound displacement corridors.
At the same time, the data illustrates Honduras’s complex and evolving role as a country of origin, transit, and asylum. The total number of forcibly displaced people residing within Honduras has increased dramatically in recent years. An analysis of population flows from 2019 to 2025 shows not only a rise in internally displaced Hondurans but also a significant diversification of origins for those seeking safety within its borders.
This trend highlights the impact of broader regional crises, with notable influxes to Honduras from countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, and El Salvador. While the origins are becoming more diverse, the refugee population hosted by Honduras remains dominated by individuals from one main country of origin, pointing to specific and acute protection needs. Taken together, these movements paint a picture of a country at the epicentre of multifaceted displacement dynamics. Honduras simultaneously generates one of the region’s largest displaced populations while increasingly serving as a sanctuary for others, a duality that strains national systems and underscores the interconnected nature of forced displacement across the continent.
AI Insight: Choropleth map of destination countries for refugees and others of concern from Honduras as of 2024, where the population is heavily concentrated in a few countries, primarily in the Americas., This choropleth map visualizes the global distribution of individuals from Honduras who are categorized as Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Internally Displaced Persons, and other persons of concern to UNHCR as of 2024. The color intensity of each country corresponds to the number of people from Honduras it hosts.
Statistical analysis of the underlying data, which includes 28 destination countries, reveals a highly skewed distribution. The number of individuals per host country ranges from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 283,833. The disparity between the median (49.5 people) and the mean (23,900 people) strongly indicates that a small number of countries host the vast majority of this population.
Further evidence of this concentration is seen in the quartiles: 75% of the host countries have fewer than 1,158 individuals from Honduras. This pattern is consistent with major migration and displacement corridors originating from Central America, with most people seeking protection in nearby countries or in North America. The map visually underscores the significant protection and integration needs within a few key destination states.
Origin of Displaced Populations
AI Insight: Horizontal bar chart of the top countries of origin for refugees in Honduras in 2024, where one country accounts for a substantially larger number of refugees compared to the others., This horizontal bar chart, titled ‘Honduras: Refugees | 2024’, illustrates the number of refugees hosted in Honduras, broken down by their primary countries of origin. The vertical axis lists the countries, while the horizontal axis represents the count of people.
The statistical analysis reveals a highly skewed distribution. The maximum number of refugees from a single origin is 155, which significantly outweighs the others. In contrast, the median number of refugees from the listed countries is only 10, and 75% of the origins account for 27 or fewer people. The notable difference between the mean (40.4) and the median (10) confirms that the refugee population is dominated by individuals from one main country of origin. Among the top countries included in the data are Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, and El Salvador.
AI Insight: Alluvial chart of the origins of forcibly displaced populations in Honduras from 2019 to 2025, where the total number of people and the diversity of their origins have significantly increased over the period., This alluvial chart details the evolution of forcibly displaced populations residing in Honduras, categorized by their country of origin, for the period between 2019 and 2025. The chart visualizes the flow and changing proportions of six distinct origin groups over time, with quantities measured in thousands of people.
Statistically, the data comprises 40 observations covering six countries of origin, including Cuba, Honduras, Venezuela, and an ‘Other’ category. The number of people from any single origin group in a given year ranges from as low as 5 to a maximum of 283,833. The data distribution is heavily skewed, with a median population count of 18,994, while the mean is substantially higher at 61,670. This skew indicates that certain origin groups have grown to become disproportionately large in recent years, driving the overall increase in the displaced population.
Key trends indicated by the data suggest a dramatic rise in the total number of forcibly displaced people hosted by Honduras. While Honduras itself is a country of origin, indicating internal displacement, the chart likely shows a significant influx from other nations, particularly from Venezuela and Cuba, reflecting broader regional migration and displacement crises. The chart effectively illustrates Honduras’s complex role as a country of origin, transit, and asylum.
Destination
AI Insight: Bar chart of the top 10 destination countries for forcibly displaced people from Honduras as of 2024, where the United States and Mexico host significantly more individuals than all other destinations., This vertical bar chart displays the top ten destination countries for people forcibly displaced from Honduras, with data current to 2024. The distribution is heavily concentrated in the top two countries. The primary destination hosts approximately 2.54 million people, followed by the second-largest host with around 700,000. There is a substantial drop to the remaining eight countries.
A statistical analysis of the underlying data for the ten countries reveals a highly right-skewed distribution. The mean number of displaced persons is approximately 498,000, which is significantly inflated by the top two destinations and is more than ten times the median value of 44,630. This disparity between the mean and median underscores the extreme concentration of the displaced population. The values for the bottom half of the countries range from a minimum of 5,822 to the median of 44,630, highlighting the comparatively smaller scale of displacement in these nations relative to the top two.
Asylum System
Asylum Systems Under Pressure
The capacity of national asylum systems to process claims in a fair and timely manner remained a critical challenge in 2024, with data from Central America illustrating a wider global trend. The asylum system in Honduras, a country that is simultaneously a source, transit, and destination for people in need of international protection, provides a compelling case study of this strain.
The data reveals that the Honduran national asylum system is operating under considerable pressure. A widening gap between the cumulative number of asylum applications lodged and the decisions rendered between 2020 and 2024 points to a significant and growing backlog. This disparity translates directly into longer waiting periods for asylum-seekers, prolonging the uncertainty for vulnerable individuals and families awaiting a decision on their future.
Behind these numbers lies a complex decision-making landscape. In 2024 alone, 1,416 refugee status determination decisions were recorded in Honduras. The outcomes for those seeking refuge varied dramatically depending on their country of origin. Analysis of recognition rates shows a stark disparity, ranging from as high as 100 per cent for nationals of one country to as low as 3.9 per cent for another, highlighting the diverse protection needs of those arriving in the country.
At the same time, Honduran nationals continued to seek safety abroad in significant numbers. The prospect of receiving protection, however, was far from uniform. An examination of decisions for Honduran asylum-seekers across the top 10 host countries reveals a deeply fragmented protection environment. The refugee recognition rate for Hondurans fluctuated from just 3.5 per cent in one country to 49 per cent in another. This wide dispersion underscores how the likelihood of receiving international protection is often contingent on the country in which an individual seeks asylum, rather than solely on the merits of their claim. Together, these trends paint a picture of asylum systems stretched to their limits, struggling to keep pace with new applications while producing inconsistent outcomes for those fleeing similar circumstances.
AI Insight: Bar chart of asylum applications and decisions for Hondurans from 2019 to 2024, showing the total number of cases per year across different asylum stages., This bar chart provides a quantitative overview of asylum cases involving individuals from Honduras, spanning the years 2019 to 2024. The data is broken down by year and asylum stage. The dataset includes 18 observations across three distinct asylum stages for the six-year period. The total number of cases in any given category ranges from 5 to 163, with an average of approximately 84 cases and a median of 95.5. This visualization allows for the analysis of trends in asylum seeking and decision-making over time. It is important to note that these figures represent the number of applications, and a single person may have more than one application, so the data does not reflect the unique number of individuals.
AI Insight: Parallel sets plot of Refugee Status Determination decisions in Honduras for 2024, showing the flow of 1,416 cases from application to final outcomes like recognized refugee status or rejection., This parallel sets plot provides a detailed visualization of the outcomes of 1,416 Refugee Status Determination (RSD) decisions recorded in Honduras in 2024. The chart illustrates the progression of asylum cases through the national determination process.
The diagram is read from left to right. Each vertical axis represents a stage in the decision-making process. The colored bands, or flows, that connect these axes represent the number of cases moving from one stage to the next. The thickness of each band is directly proportional to the number of decisions it represents.
The initial flow on the far left represents the total cohort of 1,416 decisions under review. This central flow then branches out to show the different types of decisions rendered. Key outcomes typically visualized in such a chart include ‘Refugee Status Granted’, ‘Complementary/Other Protection’, ‘Rejected’, and ‘Administratively Closed’. By following these bands, the user can visually trace the primary pathways and quantify the volume of cases for each outcome, allowing for a clear understanding of the Honduran asylum system’s decision landscape for the specified period.
AI Insight: Area chart of cumulative asylum applications versus decisions in Honduras from 2020 to 2024, where the gap between applications received and decisions made has widened, indicating a significant increase in case processing time., This area chart illustrates the cumulative total of asylum applications and first instance decisions in Honduras for the period 2020 to 2024. The x-axis represents the years, and the y-axis shows the cumulative count.
Two areas are plotted: the upper line represents the cumulative number of asylum applications, while the lower line represents the cumulative number of decisions issued. Both lines show an upward trend, but the rate of increase for applications is visibly steeper than for decisions.
The shaded region between these two lines highlights the growing backlog of pending cases. This gap is narrowest at the beginning of the period in 2020 and expands significantly by 2024. According to the data, the cumulative counts range from 86 to 706 over the five-year span. The visualization includes annotations that measure this gap in terms of the average number of days required to process a case, confirming that the expanding backlog directly correlates with longer waiting times for asylum seekers awaiting a decision.
Recognition Rates
AI Insight: Column chart of Refugee Recognition Rate by Country of Origin in Honduras for 2024, where rates vary significantly from a high of 100% for one country to a low of 3.9% for another., This column chart displays the refugee recognition rates in Honduras during 2024 for the top 8 countries of origin, ordered by the total number of asylum decisions. The analysis reveals a wide disparity in outcomes. The recognition rates range from a low of 3.9% to a high of 100%. The average recognition rate across these countries is 34.6%, while the median rate is 23.6%, suggesting that half of the countries have recognition rates below this value. The data is based on a total number of decisions ranging from 5 to 489 per country. Notably, no individuals were granted complementary protection in this dataset, making the refugee recognition rate identical to the total recognition rate for this period and population.
AI Insight: Bar chart of the Refugee Recognition Rate for Honduran nationals in 2024 by country of asylum, where the rates across the top 10 countries with the most decisions vary significantly from 3.5% to 49%., This bar chart presents the refugee recognition rates for nationals from Honduras in 2024. The data is displayed for the top 10 countries of asylum, which are ordered by the total number of asylum decisions processed for this nationality, not by the recognition rate itself.
Statistically, the average refugee recognition rate across these ten countries is 22.4%, with a median of 19.7%. There is a substantial variation in outcomes, with the rate for Honduran nationals ranging from a low of 3.5% in one country to a high of 49.0% in another. This wide dispersion indicates that the likelihood of a Honduran applicant receiving refugee status is highly dependent on the country in which they seek asylum.
The total number of decisions made in these countries ranges from 577 to 180,066. When considering complementary forms of protection, the Total Recognition Rate is slightly higher, with an average of 27.5%, suggesting that some applicants who are not granted refugee status may receive other forms of international protection.
Solutions
The Widening Gap in Durable Solutions
The ultimate goal of international protection is to help forcibly displaced and stateless people find a durable solution—a pathway to rebuild their lives in safety and dignity. Yet, the data reveals a profound and growing chasm between the acknowledgment of protection needs and the availability of these life-altering opportunities. For millions, the journey does not end upon being recognized as a refugee; instead, it enters a prolonged state of uncertainty, often characterized by a stark absence of viable long-term options.
This challenge is acutely visible in the data landscape itself, where vast gaps in reporting on solutions mirror the scarcity of the solutions themselves. Behind the global statistics of displacement lies a critical data vacuum concerning outcomes. A case in point is the situation for those displaced from Honduras. Between 2019 and 2024, while hundreds of individuals were granted refugee status—with recognitions peaking at 81 in 2021—data on corresponding durable solutions remains entirely absent. For every year in this period, for every person recognized as needing protection, there is no corresponding record of a solution being achieved through voluntary repatriation, local integration, or resettlement.
This stark asymmetry is not an isolated phenomenon but rather a microcosm of a global trend. It highlights a critical bottleneck in the international protection regime, where the capacity to identify and register people in need of protection far outpaces the political will, resources, and mechanisms required to secure their future. This data gap is more than a statistical anomaly; it represents lives in limbo and underscores the urgent need for renewed international commitment. Without concerted efforts to expand resettlement quotas, foster inclusive local integration policies, and create conditions conducive to safe and voluntary return, the number of people living in protracted displacement will inevitably continue to grow, leaving the promise of a durable solution unfulfilled for far too many.
AI Insight: A data visualization showing a single text label at the coordinate point (1,1), with no other data or axes presented., This visualization is generated from a minimal dataset containing only a single row of data. The plot consists of one text element positioned at the coordinates x=1 and y=1. The statistical profile confirms that the dataset has two numeric variables, ‘x’ and ‘y’, both of which have a constant value of 1. Consequently, measures of distribution such as standard deviation are not applicable. The plot lacks a title, subtitle, and axis labels, providing no context for the single data point displayed. In essence, this is not a chart depicting a trend or comparison, but rather a single annotation on a two-dimensional plane.
AI Insight: Line chart of refugee recognitions versus solutions for Honduras from 2019 to 2024, where recognitions fluctuated, peaking at 81 in 2021, while no data on solutions was available for the entire period., This time-series chart compares the number of refugee recognitions with the availability of durable solutions for individuals from Honduras for the years 2019 through 2024.
Refugee Recognitions: The data shows significant volatility in the number of Hondurans granted refugee status. The figures for each year are: 45 in 2019, 12 in 2020, a sharp peak of 81 in 2021, followed by a drop to 12 in 2022, a further decrease to a low of 5 in 2023, and a slight rebound to 13 in 2024.
Solutions: A critical finding revealed by the data is the complete absence of information on durable solutions (such as resettlement, local integration, or voluntary repatriation) for Honduran refugees. For every year in the specified period (2019-2024), the data for solutions is missing.
Conclusion: The visualization starkly highlights a data gap. While there is a fluctuating but consistent number of individuals from Honduras being recognized as refugees each year, there is no corresponding data to show how many are accessing durable solutions. This implies a potential significant challenge in finding long-term safety and stability for this population, although the lack of data prevents a direct numerical comparison.
