A record number of refugees will have to move to new countries over the next years, but too few places remain available for them, the United Nations said Monday, dpa reported
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), new projections for the coming years indicate 805,000 people will need to be resettled in third-countries, marking an increase of about 5 per cent since the last study was carried out and setting a record.
However, the annual quotas for immigration have remained steady at 80,000 slots being offered by third-countries, meaning those that are neither the refugee's country of origin nor their temporary home at present. Nearly all of these are developed Western countries.
"More than 80 per cent of the world's refugees live in developing countries where many cannot remain safely and have no possibility of integration," UNHCR said in a statement.
"For many refugees, resettlement in a third country is the only way to find lasting safety and a new and permanent home," the statement said.
UNHCR said that 90 per cent of the refugees resettled every year are accepted by the United States, Canada and Australia, while European countries provide six per cent of the world's slots.
Sweden was the most generous of European nations, granting 1,900 places annually for resettlement