Introduction

According to the figure provided by UNHCR, there are 79.5 million people around the world who have been forcibly displaced. This is said to be the highest figure ever recorded. About 1% of the population is displaced. Amongst the refugees being displaced, 50% of them are children. Interestingly, developing countries host more than 85% of the world’s refugees. A figure quite ironic to one’s thought. The data issued by UNHCR suggests that one person is forcibly displaced approximately every two seconds.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the end of 2020, 82.4 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide, including 26.4 million refugees, 4.1 million asylum-seekers, and 48 million internally displaced people who have fled their homes due to violent conflicts, persecution, and food insecurity. The current worldwide refugee crisis is often referred to as the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.
Displacement of refugees is an issue which is faced worldwide. Accepting them is a win for the receiving country and the communities that host them. By providing them with the right to work, to health, and to education, refugees can start productive lives in their host countries.

With the help of data sets provided by UNHCR, I have created visualizations which will help us understand and analyze the state of refugees over a period of time.

Inspiration

While I came across this topic, I read about a few statistics on refugee displacement. The graphs gave me an idea as to what the movement is but does not really provide you with the details. It is good for a generic understanding which I was examining at the beginning.

I then came across the work done by UNHCR. Their key findings gave me a better understanding of the subject matter. The key findings helped me understand the various factors and variables that exist. It gave me a perspective on how many refugees exist when compared with the whole population.

The paper, A Brief Statistical Introduction of the Global Refugee Problems with Data Analysis by April Yan Zhang, DePauw University , gave a further insight into the topic recognising the countries of origin for refugees and asylum seekers, Where they seek asylum, trend of displacement and more. The paper also gives background information and highlights the intention behind the kind of study.

Materials

Finding the data set

After looking at different datasets on various topics, I found the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Statistical Database provided by UNHCR on data.un.org. The data set included information about refugees from 1974 to 2016. It comprised data such as country of origin, country of asylum, number of refugees and asylum seekers assisted by UNHCR over a period of time.

Creating Visualizations

Upon deciding and finalizing the dataset, Tableau; an interactive data visualization software which allows us to present complex forms of data. It helped me create visualizations of various kinds, combining it with different factors. 

At first the data from the data set was understood and analyzed. Since there were a lot of different factors affecting the visualizations, I first had to understand what I wanted to understand and learn from the visualizations when I first look at them and then, what I would want the readers to understand and gather from it. This led me to create my visuals accordingly:

To create the visuals, I used the color red to instill a sense of urgency and to signify awareness. I played around with the opacity of the color so as to highlight the key findings or capture the attention towards a larger magnitude.

Results And Interpretation

From the graphs, it can be seen that the displacement for refugees did not take a peak until the late 90’s. Early 90’s can be seen going through a peak, subsiding in the early 2000’s and is seen to be rising again. The maximum number of refugees displaced was from Afghanistan from 1974 to 2016. With the help of graphs, we can conclude that UNHCR as an organization were not able to assist refugees until late 1999. It has then increased from there on. The graphs show that the developing nations hosted the maximum refugee population. The maximum refugee population that was assisted now resides in Pakistan followed by Iran and Turkey.   

Reflection

With the help of Tableau, I was able to understand and distinguish the different parameters by which one would and can understand and comprehend data. It helped me visualize, compare and contrast different parameters. However,  the dataset I used had limitations. The data that was provided was only till the year 2016.The recent years because of Pandemic and various other reasons such as political or  economical  could have caused the numbers to fluctuate  but there is no data on that yet. 

With respect to the future scope, I would like to further understand the reasons for UNHCR not being able to assist until 1999, the large refugee displacement of Afghanistan and developing nations hosting the maximum number of refugees. These statistics interested me and I wish to be able to analyze the reason behind it and present it visually. 

References

Knudson, S. (2021, June 9). 10 eye-opening facts to share on World Refugee Day. GlobalGiving. Retrieved March 2022, from https://www.globalgiving.org/learn/world-refugee-day-facts/

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (n.d.). Refugee statistics. UNHCR. Retrieved March 2022, from https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/

Cove, V. L. (n.d.). Understand the refugee crisis with Link analysis. Learn ArcGIS. Retrieved March 2022, from https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/understand-the-refugee-crisis-with-link-analysis/

Bahar, D. (2018, June 20). Why accepting refugees is a win-win-win formula. Brookings. Retrieved March 2022, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/06/19/refugees-are-a-win-win-win-formula-for-economic-development/

Zhang, A. Y. (n.d.). DePauw University scholarly and creative work from DePauw … Retrieved March 2022, from https://scholarship.depauw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1145&context=studentresearch