Despite generous support from our donors, 50 per cent of UNICEF’s response remained unfunded in 2025. Urgent additional support is needed in 2026 to sustain and scale lifesaving services for the most vulnerable children.
In 2025, the MENA region faced overlapping crises including conflict, displacement, economic collapse, disease outbreaks, and climate shocks, placing children at risk and disrupting access to services.
As of 31 December, over 1.3 million Syrians have returned back home since December 2024, with more than 3.7 million registered Syrian refugees continuing to reside in host countries in the region.
As of early 2026, 16.5 million require assistance, while over 1.4 million refugees and 1.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned since December 2024.
As of 12 March, UNHCR estimates that 1,524,736 individuals have returned to Syria from other countries since the political transition in Syria on 8 December 2024. The main governorate of return remains Damascus followed by Idleb, Aleppo, Rural Damascus and Homs.
As of 5 February, UNHCR estimates that 1,413,967 individuals have returned to Syria since 8 December 2024 while 1,712,744 internally displaced persons have returned home.
Middle East and North Africa offers a comprehensive, evidence-based analysis of one of the world’s most complex and dynamic mobility landscapes where labour migration, protracted displacement, environmental stressors and socioeconomic transitions converge.
After more than a decade of displacement, around 3 million displaced Syrians inside and outside the country were able to return home. In 2025 alone, around 179,000 people returned to Syria from Jordan and around 500,000 from Lebanon.
As of 27 November, 1,260,240 individuals have returned to Syria since 8 December while 1,950,090 internally displaced persons have returned to their areas of origin/selected destination in the same period.
As of 20 November, UNHCR estimates that 1,246,037 individuals have returned to Syria from other countries since 8 December 2024. As of 13 November, 1,944,762 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are estimated to have returned to their areas of origin, of whom 1,062,229 departed from IDP sites in northwest and northeast Syria.
There are now million forcibly displaced due to the outbreak of conflict in Sudan since April 2023, including million internally and million in neighbouring countries.
Despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, the conflict that erupted in Sudan in April 2023 continues to fuel one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises, one marked by extreme violence, widespread human rights violations, and mass displacement.
As of 6 November, 1,208,802 Syrian individuals have crossed back to Syria from other countries since 8 December 2024. Most returnees are coming from Türkiye, followed by Lebanon and Jordan, with smaller numbers from Iraq, Egypt and beyond the region.
The Sudan crisis has become the world’s largest displacement and protection emergency. Since April 2023, some 14 million people have been forced to flee their homes, of whom nearly 12 million remain displaced —7.3 million within Sudan and over 4.2 million across borders into the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and Uganda
In September, the security situation in Darfur and Kordofan States remained highly volatile and unpredictable, marked by intensified military confrontations, drone strikes, aerial bombardments and increasing intercommunal tension, leading to widespread insecurity, civilian displacement and growing humanitarian needs.
There are now million forcibly displaced due to the outbreak of conflict in Sudan since April 2023, including million internally and million in neighbouring countries.
As of 16 October, and since 8 December 2024, a total of 1,099,768 Syrian individuals have returned to Syria from other countries, while 1,880,432 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to areas of origin or selected locations in the country.
