Editing Refugee (section)

{{Short description|Displaced person}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Refugees in 2024<ref><!--UNHCR Figures at a glance-->{{cite Q|Q133327447}}</ref>{{cn|date=March 2025|reason=data by region not available}}
| population       = 122.6 million forcibly displaced <br /> including 43.7 million refugees [of which 32 million are under the mandate of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 6 million are Palestinians under UNRWA's and 5.8 million are others in need of international protection] plus 72.1 million internally displaced and 8 million seeking asylum]
| region1          = [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]
| pop1             = 7.0 million
| region2          = [[Europe]] and [[North Asia]]
| pop2             = 12.4 million
| region3          = [[Asia-Pacific|Asia and the Pacific]]
| pop3             = 6.8 million
| region4          = [[MENA|Middle East and North Africa]]
| pop4             = 2.4 million
| region5          = [[Americas]]
| pop5             = 800,000
}}{{Legal status of persons}}
{{Immigration sidebar}}
A '''refugee''', according to the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]] (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as a result of who they are, what they believe in or say, or because of armed conflict, violence or serious public disorder."<ref>{{cite web |title=Who We Protect: Refugees |url=https://www.unhcr.org/us/about-unhcr/who-we-protect/refugees |website=UNHCR/USA |access-date=20 October 2024}}</ref> Such a person may be called an [[asylum seeker]] until granted [[#Refugee status|refugee status]] by a contracting state or by the UNHCR{{sfn|Convention Protocol relating|1967}} if they formally make a claim for [[right of asylum|asylum]].{{sfn|Truth about asylum}} 
[[File:CIA, Conrad Schumanns Sprung in die Freiheit, August 1961 (cropped) 1.jpg|thumb|[[Konrad Schumann]], an [[Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic|East German border guard]], fleeing [[East Germany]] towards [[West Germany]] in 1962]]

[[Internally Displaced People]] (IDPs) are often called refugees, but they are distinguished from refugees because they have not crossed an international border, although their reasons for leaving their home may be the same as those of refugees.<ref name="UNHCR IDP">{{cite web|title=Internally Displaced Persons|url=http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/internally-displaced-people.html|publisher=United Nations High Commission for Refugees|access-date=10 July 2017}}</ref>