ISLAMABAD: Despite the US soldiers’ fast withdrawal from Kabul having been ongoing for a year, 1.5 million Afghans still choose to reside in Pakistan, making it the largest refugee-hosting nation in Asia and the Pacific.
In a report released on Monday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that the number of refugees in the Asia-Pacific area increased by 138,400 last year, reaching 4.2 million, or 19%, of the total number of refugees worldwide.
This is an increase of 3% from 2020.
According to the “Documentation Renewal and Information Verification Exercise” (DRIVE), there were 1,252,800 registered Afghans in Pakistan by December 2021 who were in possession of “proof of registration” (PoR) cards.At the time of reporting, 129,700 more unregistered members of recognized families (UMRFs) were pending verification.
Approximately 250,000 Afghans have entered Pakistan since August 2021, according to official estimates.
With 918,900 refugees, Bangladesh is the second-largest host nation, after only Iran (798,300).
Approximately 303,000 of the over 304,000 refugees and asylum seekers in China are Vietnamese.
The report states that developing (low- and middle-income) countries are home to 95% of the refugees in the Asia Pacific area, while high-income nations only take in 5% of the displaced people.
