Pakistan: Country Report | 2024
AI Generated Analysis based on UNHCR Forced Displacement Statisitics.
Executive Summary
Key Trends in Displacement: Pakistan 2024
A Landscape of Profound Complexity and Immense Scale
The humanitarian landscape in Pakistan is defined by a profound and dual crisis, encompassing over 4 million people of concern. Our latest data reveals a nation navigating one of the world’s most protracted refugee situations—dominated by over 1.5 million refugees from a single neighbouring country—alongside the immense challenge of large-scale internal displacement. This situation is highly dynamic; while new displacement waves and registration efforts have driven a net increase of nearly 800,000 individuals in one population group, major progress on voluntary returns for others has led to a concurrent decrease of over 427,000, underscoring the intense and often opposing pressures at play.
Concentrated Responsibility and Systems Under Strain
Pakistan’s decades-long generosity as a primary host country remains a cornerstone of regional stability. This responsibility, however, is heavily concentrated, with the overwhelming majority of refugees originating from Afghanistan. This pattern is mirrored abroad, where displaced Pakistanis are also sheltered predominantly by a handful of neighbouring states. This immense pressure is straining national systems, evidenced by a growing backlog of over 44,000 asylum cases. The data shows that access to protection is far from guaranteed, with most asylum claims being closed on procedural grounds rather than a substantive decision, leaving thousands in protracted uncertainty.
A Surge in Solutions Amidst Enduring Need
Against this challenging backdrop, 2024 witnessed a remarkable acceleration in the pursuit of durable solutions. The number of solutions facilitated—primarily through voluntary repatriation for a long-standing refugee caseload—surged to a peak of 126,812. This represents a monumental effort and a significant breakthrough in resolving a protracted crisis. However, this progress must be viewed in context. The number of solutions offered vastly outpaces the number of new refugees being granted protection, highlighting a critical gap. While we commend the immense progress on returns, we must urgently reinforce support for Pakistan’s asylum capacity to ensure protection is available for all who seek it, new and old alike.
Population Overview
Population Overview: A Protracted and Dynamic Displacement Landscape in Pakistan
The humanitarian landscape in Pakistan remains one of the most significant and complex globally, with over 4 million people of concern to UNHCR as of the start of 2024. Behind these stark numbers lies a dual reality defined by one of the world’s most protracted refugee situations running parallel to large-scale internal displacement driven by distinct crises.
The data reveals a highly concentrated refugee population. Of the total persons of concern, over 1.56 million individuals—representing the largest single group and the vast majority of all refugees in the country—originate from a single neighbouring state. This underscores Pakistan’s decades-long role as a primary host country for one of the largest refugee caseloads in the world. The needs of this population, given its scale, necessarily dominate programmatic focus and resource allocation.
This long-standing displacement scenario is compounded by the significant challenge of internal displacement. Analysis of trends over the past five years shows that the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has at times peaked at nearly 2 million, dwarfing other populations of concern and highlighting the country’s vulnerability to internal shocks.
The situation is far from static. The most recent data from early 2024 underscores this volatility, showing a net increase of nearly 800,000 individuals in one population group, while another saw a decrease of over 427,000. These opposing trends suggest a highly dynamic environment, potentially reflecting new displacement waves or improved registration, alongside progress towards durable solutions like voluntary returns for others, such as the 126,812 refugees who were recorded as having returned.
Demographically, the population of concern is characterized by an expansive and youthful profile. The wide base of the population pyramid indicates a high youth dependency ratio, underscoring the critical and long-term need for investment in education, child protection, and health services to support a generation born and raised in displacement.
Demographics
AI Insight: Treemap chart of the composition of the 4,017,000 population of concern in Pakistan, where the largest category numbers over 1.56 million people, representing the most significant group., This treemap visualizes the breakdown of the 4,017,000 individuals classified as UNHCR’s Population of Concern in Pakistan as of 2024. The total population is distributed across 7 distinct categories.
A statistical analysis reveals a highly skewed distribution among these categories. The largest single group comprises 1,560,480 people, accounting for nearly 39% of the total. The disparity in scale is significant, as the median (50th percentile) category size is 198,852, while at least a quarter of the categories have populations of 1,750 or fewer. This indicates that a few groups are very large while several others are comparatively small.
Based on the data, one of the seven categories is ‘Returned refugees’, numbering 126,812 individuals. The visualization effectively communicates that while there are multiple populations of concern in Pakistan, programmatic focus and resources are likely dominated by the needs of the one or two largest groups.
AI Insight: Population pyramid of persons of concern in Pakistan by age and gender, where the population is predominantly young, with a slightly larger male population compared to females across most age groups., This population pyramid visualizes the demographic breakdown of 43,566,151 persons of concern (including refugees, asylum-seekers, and IDPs) in Pakistan as of 2024. The chart is divided vertically by gender and horizontally by six age cohorts: 0-4, 5-11, 12-17, 18-59, and 60+ years.
The overall structure is expansive, with a wide base, indicating a large youth population. The distribution is bimodal for both genders, with the highest concentrations in the youngest age groups and the primary working-age group (18-59).
Statistically, there is a slight male majority. The proportion of the population for males ranges from 1.42% to a peak of 17.9% in the largest cohort, with an average of 8.72% per age bracket. For females, the range is from 1.01% to 15.7%, with an average of 7.95%. This demographic profile suggests a high youth dependency ratio and highlights the need for services focused on children, education, and family support.
Trends Over Time
AI Insight: Column chart of population types in Pakistan from 2019 to 2024, where the number of Internally Displaced Persons is substantially higher than other groups, peaking at nearly 2 million, while most other categories remain below 100,000., This column chart displays the number of people across six distinct population types in Pakistan for each year from 2019 to 2024. The data reveals a significant disparity in the scale of these populations.
Statistically, the dataset is heavily skewed by a few large figures. The overall mean population count across all categories and years is approximately 308,800, but this is distorted by high-value outliers. A more representative measure, the median, is significantly lower at 4,398. This indicates that most population groups in most years have relatively small numbers.
The maximum count for a single group in one year reached 1,988,231, while the minimum was zero. The 75th percentile for the data is 99,344, meaning that three-quarters of all recorded population figures are below 100,000. The peak value is therefore an extreme outlier, suggesting a major displacement event or situation in a specific year for one particular group, likely Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). In contrast, categories such as Returned IDPs show high volatility, with values ranging from zero to over 98,000, while the median for Returned Refugees is 6,136. This visualization underscores that while several populations of concern exist in Pakistan, internal displacement represents the largest humanitarian challenge in terms of sheer numbers during this period.
AI Insight: Bar chart of the change in population groups in Pakistan from 2023 to 2024, where one group increased by nearly 800,000 people while another decreased by over 427,000., This vertical bar chart illustrates the net change in six of UNHCR’s population groups of concern in Pakistan between the start of 2023 and the start of 2024. The y-axis represents the change in the number of people, with a central zero line separating increases (bars extending upwards) from decreases (bars extending downwards). Each bar is labeled with the absolute number and the percentage change.
Key statistical findings indicate a highly dynamic situation: - There is one very large increase, with one population group growing by 798,489 individuals. - Conversely, another group experienced a significant decrease of 427,751 people. - The remaining four groups saw comparatively minor increases. The median change across all groups was a small increase of 1,720 people.
The visualization highlights contrasting trends within Pakistan’s humanitarian landscape. The substantial growth in one population suggests a new or escalating displacement crisis or improved registration, while the large decrease in another may point towards successful durable solutions like repatriation or resettlement, or potential protection challenges.
AI Insight: Horizontal bar chart of top 9 countries of origin for refugees in Pakistan as of 2024, where one country accounts for the vast majority of the total population, with over 1.5 million people., This horizontal bar chart displays the number of refugees in Pakistan by their top nine countries of origin for the year 2024. The data reveals a highly skewed distribution, dominated by a single country of origin which accounts for 1,559,964 individuals. The remaining eight countries have significantly smaller refugee populations in comparison. The statistical profile shows a median population size of just 33.5 people per origin country, with 75% of the listed origins having fewer than 117 refugees each. This stark contrast between the maximum value and the rest of the data points highlights the concentrated nature of the refugee situation in Pakistan, with the overwhelming majority originating from one neighboring country, which contextually is Afghanistan.
Geography & Movements
The geography of displacement reveals complex, intersecting movements where a single country can be both a significant source of displaced populations and a major host nation. The data for Pakistan illustrates this dual role, highlighting patterns of movement and settlement that are highly concentrated in a few key corridors.
As one of the world’s largest host countries, Pakistan’s role is defined by the protracted situation of refugees from Afghanistan. Behind the stark numbers, the data reveals that of the nearly 1.6 million refugees residing in Pakistan, the vast majority—over 1.5 million—originate from Afghanistan. This figure vastly outnumbers all other refugee populations combined and underscores a consistent, decades-long pattern of displacement where Pakistan has provided asylum to successive generations. This enduring responsibility is a central feature of the region’s displacement landscape.
Conversely, the picture of displacement from Pakistan reveals a similarly concentrated pattern of hosting responsibility. While 87 countries worldwide host people of concern from Pakistan, the burden is far from evenly distributed. The data is dominated by a single, significant destination: the Islamic Republic of Iran, which hosts an extraordinary 8.5 million forcibly displaced individuals from Pakistan. This figure constitutes the vast majority of the global total. Beyond this primary corridor, hosting is concentrated in a handful of other nations. The analysis reveals a significant disparity; while the top ten host countries shelter populations numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the median number of displaced Pakistanis across all host countries is just 68. This highlights that the responsibility for providing protection is borne overwhelmingly by a very small number of neighbouring states, reflecting deep-rooted regional dynamics.
AI Insight: Choropleth map of destination countries for displaced persons from Pakistan as of 2024, where the population is highly concentrated in a few key host countries., This world choropleth map illustrates the global distribution of displaced populations originating from Pakistan, current as of 2024. The visualization encompasses several categories of people of concern to UNHCR, including refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless people, and others in need of international protection. Countries on the map are colored according to the total number of these individuals they host.
The statistical profile of the data reveals a significant and uneven distribution. Out of 241 geographic entities considered, 87 have recorded populations of displaced people from Pakistan. The data is heavily skewed, with a few countries hosting the vast majority of individuals. The number of people per country ranges from 5 to a maximum of 40,008. The median number of hosted persons is just 68, indicating that half of the host countries have very small populations. In contrast, the mean is 1,930, pulled upwards by the countries with the largest populations. This disparity is further highlighted by the 75th percentile being 465, showing that the top quarter of host nations accommodates the bulk of the displaced population. The map visually demonstrates that hosting responsibility is concentrated in a relatively small number of nations.
Origin of Displaced Populations
AI Insight: Horizontal bar chart of the top 9 refugee countries of origin in Pakistan for 2024, where the population from Afghanistan at nearly 1.6 million vastly outnumbers all other groups combined., This horizontal bar chart displays the number of refugees in Pakistan by their top nine countries of origin for the year 2024. The data reveals a highly skewed distribution, dominated by a single country.
The largest group of refugees originates from Afghanistan, with a population of 1,559,964. This figure is an extreme outlier and is orders of magnitude larger than that of any other country of origin. In contrast, the other eight countries listed have significantly smaller refugee populations. The median population size across the top origin countries is just 34 people, and 75% of these countries have fewer than 117 refugees each in Pakistan. The minimum number of refugees from a listed country is 18.
The vast difference between the maximum value (1,559,964) and the median (33.5) highlights the unique scale of the Afghan refugee situation in Pakistan. The mean population of 156,048 is heavily inflated by the Afghan figure and is not representative of the typical size of other refugee groups. The large standard deviation of 493,286 further confirms the extreme variability and the overwhelming impact of this single data point on the overall distribution.
AI Insight: Alluvial diagram of the origin of forcibly displaced populations in Pakistan from 2019 to 2025, where individuals from Afghanistan consistently represent the vast majority of the displaced population., This alluvial diagram illustrates the composition and evolution of forcibly displaced populations residing in Pakistan, categorized by their country of origin for the years 2019 through 2025. The data is presented in thousands of people and is broken down into three origin groups: Afghanistan (Afg), Pakistan (Pak), and Other (Oth).
The most prominent feature of the visualization is the overwhelming scale of the population originating from Afghanistan. This group forms the largest flow throughout the entire period, reflecting Pakistan’s long-standing role as a major host country for Afghan refugees. The statistical data corroborates this, with a maximum value reaching over 2.5 million people, which is significantly higher than the median value of approximately 38,000 across all data points. This large discrepancy indicates that the Afghan population size skews the overall average upwards.
In contrast, the flows for internally displaced persons from Pakistan and displaced individuals from other origins are substantially smaller, appearing as much thinner bands in the diagram. While their numbers may fluctuate, they remain several orders of magnitude lower than the Afghan population. The chart effectively highlights the scale of the protracted refugee situation from Afghanistan in comparison to other displacement contexts within Pakistan.
Destination
AI Insight: Bar chart of the top 10 destination countries for forcibly displaced people from Pakistan, where Iran hosts the vast majority with over 8.5 million people., This vertical bar chart shows the top 10 destination countries for people forcibly displaced from Pakistan as of 2024. The distribution is dominated by a single outlier.
Statistical Analysis: - Iran is the primary country of asylum, hosting 8,548,257 individuals, which is significantly more than all other countries combined. - The other nine countries host populations ranging from a minimum of 89,376 to a maximum of approximately 340,000. - The median number of displaced people across the top 10 countries is 265,454, which is a more representative figure for the typical host country in this group than the mean. - The mean is heavily skewed to 1,139,471 due to the data from Iran. - The 75th percentile is 340,775, indicating that seven of the top ten countries host fewer than this number of displaced people from Pakistan.
