A viral infograph on social media claims that 85 percent of the refugees in the world belong to the Muslim community and questions that even after the presence of 56 Islamic countries, why do they take refuge in non-Muslim ones.
However, as per UNHCR's 2020 report, Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees while Pakistan ranks on the third position, both of them being Muslim dominated nations.
CLAIM
The text in Hindi when translated in English reads, "85 percent of refugees in the world are Muslims. Even though there are 56 Islamic countries, why do they take refuge in non-Islamic countries?"
You can view the archived version here.
(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Let's take a look at the claims made in the infograph one by one.
NUMBER OF MUSLIM REFUGEES IN THE WORLD
As per UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the world comprised of 26.4 million refugees at the end of 2020.
The organisation further notes that 39 percent of the refugees are hosted in five countries with Turkey hosting the largest number of refugees at nearly 3.7 million, followed by Colombia at 1.7 million, Pakistan and Uganda at 1.4 million each, and Germany at 1.2 million.
Out of these, Turkey and Pakistan are Muslim dominated nations.
The UNHCR data shows top five countries that host maximum number of refugees.
(Source: UNHCR/ Screenshot)
The UNHCR statistics also point out that more than two thirds of all refugees under the organisation's mandate and Venezuelans displaced abroad originate from five countries namely Syrian Arab Republic (6.7 million), Venezuela (4 million), Afghanistan (2.6 million), South Sudan (2.2 million), Myanmar (1.1 million).
DO MOST OF THE REFUGEES GO TO NON-MUSLIM NATIONS?
The UNHCR report titled 'Mid-year trends 2020' lists down the top 10 nations that are hosting the most number of refugees.
In the list mentioned below, Turkey and Pakistan rank on first and third positions respectively, and both of them are Muslim dominated countries.
Other nations such as Iran, Lebanon and Bangladesh also feature in the top 10 list and have a high Muslim population.
Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world.
(Source: Statista/ Screenshot)
The aforementioned five countries are also a part of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that comprises of 57 member states.
Evidently, a viral infograph falsely claimed that most of the people take refuge in non-Muslim countries.
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