Number of refugees from Syria in neighbouring countries, 2013

Doctors and medical profes­sionals state that the conflict in Syria has led to one of the worst humanitarian crises since the Cold War. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the number of Syrian refugees since the civil war began in March 2011 passed 2 million on 3 September. The number is expected to exceed 3 million by the end of 2013. More than 97% of Syria’s refugees, half of them children, are hosted by neighbour­ing countries. A further 4.25 million people are displaced inside Syria, according to the UN’s Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). That means almost 30% of Syria’s 21.9 million population have been forced to flee their homes.
Accurate and reliable data on the number of Syrians coming to the EU is lacking. However, 55 035 asylum applicants from Syria have been registered so far. Moreover, Eurostat reports that, in 2012, Syrians became the single largest group granted protection.