In 2024, 12% of “forcibly displaced and stateless people” are expected to be from the Middle East (West Asia) and North Africa (MENA) region, said the United Nations. At Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, where 20-year-old pregnant Syrian woman Souad lives, children make up 50% of the camp’s population of more than 80,000. The population of the 11-year-old refugee camp has since decreased, but with no sign of an end to the conflict in neighbouring Syria, Za’atari remains the biggest refugee camp in West Asia and one of the largest in the world, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). More than 5.3 million refugees from Syria are in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and North Africa. About 1.5 million Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, as well as smaller numbers reside in other MENA countries.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 06, 2024 07:24 UTC