A child refugee is a person under 18 who has been forced to flee their home country because of conflict, persecution, or violence, and who cannot safely return. They make up 40% of all forcibly displaced people globally - despite representing just 29% of the world's population.
Behind every statistic is a child who woke up one day in a home they loved, and had no choice but to leave it behind.
Updated May 2026
What the data says
By the end of 2024, 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced - the highest number ever recorded. Of those, an estimated 49 million are children under the age of 18.
By the end of 2024, 48.8 million children were displaced by conflict and violence - nearly triple the figure from 2010. This includes:
19.1 million refugee children and asylum seekers
29.4 million children displaced within their own countries (internally displaced persons, or IDPs)
More than 2.3 million children were born as refugees between 2018 and 2024 - an average of 337,800 every year. For many of these children, a refugee camp or temporary settlement is the only home they have ever known.
The countries most affected include Sudan, Myanmar, Gaza, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan - all places where Save the Children works.
Dana*, 13, plays with her friends and a puppet at Save the Children's Child Friendly Space in a displacement camp in Northeast Syria.
What is the difference between a refugee, an asylum seeker, and an internally displaced child?
These terms are often used interchangeably but they mean different things - and the distinction matters for a child's legal rights and access to support.
A refugee is someone who has fled their country and been formally recognised as needing international protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Refugees have the right not to be returned to a country where they face serious harm.
An asylum seeker is someone who has applied for refugee status but whose claim is still being processed. Until a decision is made, they are in legal limbo - often without the right to work, study, or access full public services.
An internally displaced person (IDP) has fled their home but remains within their own country. They are not covered by the Refugee Convention and often have less legal protection than those who have crossed a border.
An unaccompanied child is a refugee or asylum-seeking child who is travelling without a parent or legal guardian. These children are among the most vulnerable - at heightened risk of trafficking, exploitation, and abuse, with no adult to advocate for them.
What challenges do child refugees face?
Fleeing home is just the beginning. Once displaced, children face a series of compounding challenges that affect every part of their lives.
Lost education
Education is one of the first things children lose when they are displaced - and one of the hardest to recover. Of the world's 14.8 million school-aged refugee children, nearly half - approximately 7.2 million - are still out of school. Enrolment drops sharply at secondary level, where just 42% of refugee children attend, compared to a global average of 77%. At university level, only 7% are enrolled.
The barriers are significant: language differences, the cost of school materials, a lack of qualified teachers, long distances to school, and the need to work to help support the family. When children fall behind, catching up becomes harder with every year that passes.
Read more about how we support education for refugee children.
Mental health and trauma
Most children who flee their homes have witnessed or experienced things no child should have to face - violence, the death of loved ones, dangerous journeys, family separation. The psychological impact is profound and often long-lasting.
Children affected by displacement show significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress than their peers. Without access to mental health support - which is often unavailable or unaffordable in displacement settings - these difficulties can persist for years, affecting children's ability to learn, form relationships, and eventually rebuild their lives.
Protection risks
Displacement creates conditions where children are far more vulnerable to violence, exploitation, and abuse. Unaccompanied children - those travelling or living without a parent or guardian - face the highest risks, including trafficking and sexual exploitation. Even children with families face elevated risks: gender-based violence increases in displacement settings, and community protection systems that would normally keep children safe have often broken down entirely.
Health and nutrition
Healthcare systems in conflict zones and refugee settlements are frequently overwhelmed or non-functional. Children miss routine vaccinations, face disease outbreaks in overcrowded conditions, and may go weeks or months without adequate food. Malnutrition in early childhood causes damage to physical and cognitive development that can last a lifetime.
Family separation
In the chaos of displacement, families are sometimes torn apart. Children may be separated from parents during flight, or parents may die during conflict. Unaccompanied children face all the above challenges without the protection and emotional security of a caregiver - making every risk more acute.
Fadia*, 6, shows a train made of blocks at a Child Friendly Space in Lebanon.
Where do most child refugees come from?
Displacement is heavily concentrated in a small number of countries experiencing prolonged conflict. UNHCR data shows that more than a third of all forcibly displaced people come from just four countries: Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.
Sudan is currently experiencing one of the world's largest displacement crises, with over 14 million Sudanese people displaced internally - more than half of them children. In Gaza, years of conflict have left children facing catastrophic humanitarian conditions. In the DRC, ongoing violence in the east of the country continues to force families from their homes repeatedly.
Importantly, the vast majority of refugees - over 73% - are hosted by low- and middle-income countries, not wealthy nations. The countries bearing the greatest burden are those with the fewest resources to help.
What does international law say about protecting child refugees?
Children are among the most vulnerable people in the world when displaced, and international law gives them specific protections.
The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol establish that anyone fleeing persecution has the right to seek asylum. Children have additional protections under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees every child the right to education, healthcare, family unity, and protection from exploitation - regardless of where they were born or what legal status they hold.
In practice, these rights are frequently violated. Children are detained, denied education, separated from families, and returned to dangerous situations. Save the Children campaigns consistently for governments to uphold their legal obligations and for children's rights to be placed at the centre of all asylum and refugee policy.
Sarah* (6), displaced from southern Lebanon, clings to a red teddy bear—a precious gift from her father and one of the only things she could bring when she fled.
How Save the Children supports child refugees
Save the Children has been working with children affected by conflict and displacement for over 100 years. Today, our teams work in many of the countries most affected by displacement - as well as with refugee communities in the UK - to provide practical support and push for lasting change.
Education in emergencies. We believe every child has the right to learn, even in a refugee camp or active conflict zone. We create temporary learning spaces, train teachers, provide school materials and run accelerated catch-up programmes for children who have fallen behind. In Myanmar, we helped over 43,000 students continue learning in conflict-affected areas in 2024, training more than 1,200 educators in inclusive teaching methods. Our work through the LEGO Foundation-supported Teachwell Voices programme advocates for refugee teachers to be integrated into national education systems in Kenya - supporting both teachers and the children who need them.
Child protection. We operate Child Friendly Spaces in displacement settings - safe places where children can play, learn, and access psychosocial support. We run family tracing services for children separated from their parents, and provide specialist support for children who have experienced gender-based violence or other trauma.
Cash assistance. Direct financial support to families in displacement helps them meet urgent needs - food, shelter, essential items for children - without dependency on aid in kind. In the occupied Palestinian territory in 2025, our £22 million cash-based response reached over 336,000 people. Monitoring showed that 54% of households at risk of child labour reported children stopped working after receiving cash - showing how financial support protects children in multiple ways at once.
Health and nutrition. We run mobile health clinics, support maternity facilities, treat malnutrition, and ensure children in displacement receive essential vaccinations. In Sudan, we ran mobile health clinics to address cholera outbreaks and ensured access to clean water and sanitation in conflict-affected areas.
Advocacy. We campaign to ensure governments and international institutions uphold their obligations to child refugees. This includes calling for ceasefire agreements that protect civilians, opposing arms sales to governments committing violations against children, and ensuring children's voices are heard in the policy decisions that affect them.
What you can do
Child refugees need sustained, long-term support - not just emergency aid when crises make the news. Your regular donation could help fund the education, protection, and mental health support that displaced children need to recover and rebuild their futures.
You can also join our campaigns to hold governments to account on their commitments to child refugees. And if you want to support refugees arriving in the UK, find out how to help.
No child chooses to become a refugee. But together, we can make sure they don't face what comes next alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a child refugee?
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A child refugee is a person under 18 who has been forced to flee their country due to conflict, persecution, or violence, and who cannot safely return home. They are protected by international law, including the 1951 Refugee Convention and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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How many child refugees are there in the world?
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48.8 million children were displaced by conflict and violence by the end of 2024 - including 19.1 million refugee children and asylum seekers, and 29.4 million children displaced within their own countries. Children make up 40% of all forcibly displaced people globally.
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What are the biggest challenges facing child refugees?
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The main challenges are loss of education, mental health impacts from trauma, heightened protection risks (especially for unaccompanied children), malnutrition and limited healthcare access, and family separation. These challenges compound one another, and without sustained support many persist long after displacement ends.
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What is the difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker?
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A refugee has been formally recognised as needing international protection. An asylum seeker has applied for that recognition but is still waiting for a decision. Both may have fled the same dangers - the difference is where they are in the legal process.
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How does Save the Children help child refugees?
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We provide education in emergencies, child protection services, cash assistance to families, health and nutrition support, and family tracing for separated children. We also advocate for governments to uphold their legal obligations to refugees and put children's rights at the heart of displacement policy.
Read more
How to talk to your children about refugees - age-by-age guidance for parents
World Refugee Day 2025: championing teachers, securing futures - why teachers are central to refugee children's recovery
How to ensure success on education for refugees - our advocacy following the Global Refugee Forum
Mental health and refugee children in education - the psychological impacts of displacement on learning
How to support refugees from Ukraine - practical ways to help in the UK
How to sponsor a refugee - what it involves and how to get started
