Government > Transnational Issues > Refugees and internally displaced persons > IDPs per thousand people: Countries Compared

DEFINITION: This entry is derived from Government > Transnational Issues > Refugees and internally displaced persons, which includes those persons residing in a country as refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs). Each country's refugee entry includes only countries of origin that are the source of refugee populations of 5,000 or more. The definition of a refugee according to a United Nations Convention is "a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution." The UN established the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1950 to handle refugee matters worldwide. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has a different operational definition for a Palestinian refugee: "a person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." However, UNHCR also assists some 400,000 Palestinian refugees not covered under the UNRWA definition. The term "internally displaced person" is not specifically covered in the UN Convention; it is used to describe people who have fled their homes for reasons similar to refugees, but who remain within their own national territory and are subject to the laws of that state.
Additional details:

• Algeria: undetermined (civil war during 1990s) (2012)
• Bangladesh: undetermined (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2012)
• Burma: more than 454,200 (government offensives against armed ethnic minority groups near its borders with China and Thailand) (2012)
• Guatemala: undetermined (the UN does not estimate there are any IDPs, although some NGOs estimate over 200,000 IDPs as a result of over three decades of internal conflict that ended in 1996) (2007)
• Guatemala: undetermined (more than three decades of internal conflict that ended in 1996 displaced mainly the indigenous Maya population and rural peasants; ongoing drug cartel and gang violence) (2011)
• India: at least 600,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2007)
• India: at least 540,000 (about 250,000 are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2012)
• Kenya: at least 300,000 (2007-08 post-election ...
  Full definition. Figures expressed per thousand people for the same year.