GENEVA: Almost 2.4 million refugees will need resettling next year, the United Nations said on Tuesday, at a time when a number of countries have slashed resettlement spots.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, warned of a dire shortage of options for such refugees, who cannot return home and face risks in their country of asylum.

“Expanding resettlement is urgent and achievable,” Jackie Keegan, who leads UNHCR’s durable solutions and field protection support service, told journalists in Geneva.

“Increased quotas, bringing more countries on board, and accelerating processing will ensure this life-saving tool reaches more of those in need.” In its annual Projected Glo­bal Resettlement Needs report, UNHCR said 2.37 million people from 43 countries of origin and living in 76 countries of asylum would need resettling elsewhere next year.

Afghan refugees are the largest group in need of resettlement, followed by people from South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, living in vast camps in Bangladesh. The 2.4 million figure is down six percent from last year’s report.

Keegan said this was partially due to Afghans returning from in Iran and Pakistan “under adverse circumstances” and the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 opening the way for voluntary returns.

In 2025, only around 37,000 refugees left for a new country through UNHCR-assisted resettlement. That figure was down from 116,000 in 2024.

Part of that decline was linked to the United States — long the world’s biggest resettler of refugees — which slammed its doors shut shortly after President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year.

Keegan stressed though that it was “not just the US”, with other long-term resettlement countries having “either dropped their quota or have suspended”. “Recommitting to protection and solutions is more critical than ever,” she said.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026