Geneva, 15 December 2025 - At the Global Refugee Forum Progress Review Meeting (15-17 December), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warns that support for refugees and the communities hosting them is falling, even as global displacement remains at record levels.
UNDP called for stronger long-term investment in basic services, jobs and national systems.
By the end of 2024, conflict, climate shocks and economic instability had forced 117 million people from their homes. Most sought refuge in low- and middle-income countries, which host 2.5 times more refugees than high-income countries despite facing their own economic pressures.
UNDP says evidence from dozens of countries shows that development investments, such as repairing schools, clinics, water networks, and markets, help stabilize communities, reduce tensions, and support safe, voluntary returns and integration.
"The world cannot keep responding to displacement with short-term fixes," said Shoko Noda, Director of UNDP's Crisis Bureau. "Host countries are carrying an impossible burden. Without real development action, global displacement crises will only deepen. The cost of inaction will be far higher than acting now."
The Global Refugee Forum is the world's largest international gathering on refugee issues, held every four years to review progress and mobilize new commitments under the Global Compact on Refugees. The 2025 Progress Review Meeting assesses how governments, international organizations, and partners are delivering on pledges made in 2023.
In 2024, UNDP invested more than $618 million across over 60 countries affected by forced displacement. In Lebanon and Türkiye, job and livelihoods programmes reached more than 1 million people. In Iran, 373,000 Afghan refugees accessed health services through the national system with UNDP support.
But these gains are at risk. Global funding for refugee responses fell in 2024 and is expected to decline again this year. Support also remains deeply uneven: low-income countries, which host 19% of refugees while accounting for just 0.6% of global wealth, remain chronically underfunded.
Looking ahead to the Global Refugee Forum in 2027, UNDP said it will expand partnerships with governments, the private sector, and UNHCR to strengthen national systems, link climate adaptation with livelihoods and recovery, mobilize climate and development finance, and scale joint programming in hosting, transit, and return communities.
