At the end of 2025, roughly 9 million people worldwide were still waiting for a decision on an asylum claim. UNHCR defines asylum-seekers as people who have sought international protection and whose claim for refugee status or another form of protection has not yet been finally determined. That makes this population different from recognized refugees and also different from the number of new asylum applications filed during a year.
The 2025 UNHCR population table used here contains 177 country or area rows by country of asylum. 157 rows have a positive asylum-seeker population and 20 are zero. The 177 rows sum to 8,998,097 people, consistent with UNHCR’s rounded global figure of about 9 million asylum-seekers at end-2025. The geography is the country or territory of asylum, not the person’s country of origin.
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The United States alone accounts for about 41% of the 177-row total
The United States has the largest end-year value at 3,718,945, equal to about 41.3% of the total in the supplied country table. Egypt is second at 878,268 and Peru third at 556,770. The U.S. value is so large that a simple linear map or chart would compress much of the remaining country variation.
| Country or territory of asylum | Asylum-seekers at end-2025 |
|---|---|
| United States of America | 3,718,945 |
| Egypt | 878,268 |
| Peru | 556,770 |
| Canada | 314,475 |
| Germany | 297,503 |
| Spain | 248,715 |
| Italy | 234,144 |
| Kenya | 218,646 |
| Costa Rica | 178,212 |
| Mexico | 173,532 |
The five largest countries of asylum account for 64.1% of the table total, and the top ten account for 75.8%. Canada and Germany are close to 300,000 each, while Spain, Italy, and Kenya exceed 200,000. Costa Rica and Mexico are both above 170,000, giving the Americas several of the largest end-year pending populations.
These are end-year pending populations, not new applications filed in 2025
UNHCR’s population dataset is a stock dataset: it records how many people belong to a population group at a point in time, typically the middle or end of the year. Asylum applications are different. They are a flow dataset measuring applications during a period. The 3.7 million U.S. value therefore must not be described as 3.7 million new asylum applications filed in 2025.
An end-year pending population can include claims carried forward from earlier years, new claims lodged during 2025, and the effects of decisions, closures, or other changes during the year. A large pending stock does not by itself reveal a country’s recognition rate, the number of people newly arriving, or how many claims were decided. Those questions require the separate UNHCR asylum applications and decisions statistics.
Large pending populations appear across the Americas, Europe, and Africa
The largest observations are geographically diverse. In North America, the United States and Canada stand out. Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Brazil are large in Latin America. Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France are prominent in Europe. Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia, Libya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are among the larger African countries of asylum, while Türkiye, Malaysia, and Pakistan are notable in Asia and West Asia.
The map should not be treated as proof of a single cause. End-year stock can be influenced by the volume of new claims, processing times, unresolved backlogs from earlier years, decisions and closures, national statistical practices, and changing displacement routes. The spatial pattern identifies where pending populations are large; explaining why requires country-specific process and policy data.
The Republic of Korea has 39,106 pending asylum-seekers; Japan has 22,647
| Country | Asylum-seekers at end-2025 |
|---|---|
| Republic of Korea | 39,106 |
| Japan | 22,647 |
| China | 482 |
| United States | 3,718,945 |
| Canada | 314,475 |
| Germany | 297,503 |
| France | 85,227 |
| United Kingdom | 144,747 |
| India | 15,075 |
| Australia | 82,925 |
| Mexico | 173,532 |
| Türkiye | 102,497 |
The Republic of Korea is reported at 39,106 and Japan at 22,647. China is 482 and India 15,075. These differences do not measure how many refugees originate from each country. They describe where people were awaiting decisions at the end of the year, using the country-of-asylum dimension of the UNHCR data.
They are also absolute counts, not population rates. A country with 100,000 pending asylum-seekers can have a very different per-capita situation from another country with the same count. A rate comparison would require a synchronized population denominator and should still be interpreted alongside asylum-system and processing differences.
An asylum-seeker is not the same statistical category as a refugee
UNHCR describes an asylum-seeker as a person seeking international protection whose claim has not yet been finally determined. A refugee is counted under a separate population category once the relevant refugee or comparable protection status applies. Not every asylum-seeker will ultimately be recognized as a refugee, so the two categories should not be added or substituted casually.
Statelessness is also distinct. It concerns whether a person is considered a national by any State under its law. A person may be both stateless and an asylum-seeker, but the categories answer different legal and statistical questions. UNHCR therefore publishes refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced people, stateless people, and other groups separately.
A zero in 20 rows does not mean there was no asylum activity during the year
There are 20 zero rows in the 177-row end-year table. A zero means that this population table reports zero pending asylum-seekers at the end of 2025 for that country or area. It does not prove that no one applied for asylum during 2025, that no refugees were present, or that no asylum decision was made. Applications may have been resolved or otherwise closed before year-end, and recognized refugees are counted separately.
The same distinction works in the other direction: a positive value is not a count of new 2025 applications. Keeping stock and flow measures separate prevents a common error in displacement statistics and makes cross-country comparisons much more meaningful.
The median positive country is far smaller than the largest observations
The median among the 157 positive rows is 3,246. Only 1 country is above one million, 3 are at or above 500,000, and 17 are at or above 100,000. By contrast, 21 positive rows are below 100 people. This strongly skewed distribution is why the map uses broad value bands rather than relying on a simple average.
Some small islands and territories may not have a visible polygon in a low-resolution world boundary layer even when their values are included in the data. The calculations, rankings, and total use all 177 rows in the supplied UNHCR table; the map is a visual summary rather than the source of the arithmetic.
Data source and how to read the comparison
Country and area values come from the official UNHCR Refugee Statistics 2025 population API. The definition of asylum-seekers is checked against UNHCR’s Refugee Data Finder definition, while the distinction between stock population figures and flow statistics is based on UNHCR’s guidance on common mistakes in forced-displacement data.
All rankings, the top-five and top-ten shares, the 157 positive rows and 20 zero rows, the median, and the threshold counts are calculated directly from the 177 observations dated 2025. Throughout this article, “by country” means country or territory of asylum and the values are end-year stock figures for pending asylum-seekers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which country has the largest asylum-seeker population at the end of 2025?
In the UNHCR country-of-asylum table, the United States is highest at 3,718,945, followed by Egypt at 878,268, Peru at 556,770, Canada at 314,475, and Germany at 297,503.
Are these the number of new asylum applications filed in 2025?
No. These are end-year stock figures for people whose asylum claims were still pending. New applications during the year are a separate flow statistic.
Are asylum-seekers the same as refugees?
No. Asylum-seekers are seeking international protection and are awaiting a final determination. Refugees are counted under a separate population category once the relevant protection status applies.
Does “by country” mean the asylum-seeker’s country of origin?
No. This article uses country or territory of asylum, meaning the place where the person was recorded as awaiting an asylum decision at end-2025.
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