Internal displacement continues to be a multipronged challenge in Afghanistan due to ongoing conflict, renewed insecurity as well as recurring natural disasters. While some of these internally displaced persons (IDPs) return to their homes, many continue to live in protracted internal displacement.
Afghans internally displaced in 2021
Using the DTM Emergency Event Tracking (EET) tool, assessments were carried out from 1 December to 19 December 2021 in 10,129 communities in 368 districts across all provinces in Afghanistan (IOM DTM, 2021). Based on the collected data, as of 19 December 2021:
- nearly 990,000 IDPs who newly arrived in the assessed communities after August 2021 continued to remain in these communities
- nearly 1.3 million IDPs who had left the assessed communities before August 2021 had not returned after August 2021
- nearly 2.2 million IDPs who had left the assessed communities before August 2021 had returned to their communities of origin after August 2021
See more operational data here.
Afghans newly internally displaced in 2021
An estimated 748,000 Afghans were newly displaced internally in 2021. Nearly 97 per cent of these new internal displacements in Afghanistan happened due to conflict and violence (IDMC, 2022).
This is much higher than the global share of new displacements due to conflict and violence which accounted for almost 38 per cent of all new internal displacements in 2021(GMDAC analysis based on IDMC, 2022).
Total internally displaced Afghans, as of December 2021
By the end of 2021, an estimated total of 4.3 million Afghans were living in internal displacement. Among the stock of internally displaced persons (IDPs) globally, Afghanistan hosted the highest number of IDPs due to disasters and the fourth highest number of IDPs due to conflict and violence (IDMC, 2022).
Of the global IDP population displaced due to disasters, approximately 23 per cent were hosted in Afghanistan and among the IDPs displaced due to conflict and violence, Afghan IDPs accounted for 8 per cent (GMDAC analysis based on IDMC, 2022).
Disclaimer: This webpage curates public information and data. The opinions expressed in this webpage are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), nor its Member States and other stakeholders. The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the webpage do not imply expression of any opinion or endorsement whatsoever on the part of IOM, its Member States and other stakeholders concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries. While the portal section "Afghanistan: Migration statistics, policy and news" has been made possible with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) Switzerland, the contents on this section do not necessarily reflect their official policy or position.
