Interactive: The world’s changing pattern of refugees and asylum-seekers

Syria has become the world's largest source of refugees and Turkey is now the largest host. Find out where refugees and asylum seekers have moved to and where they came from with this interactive, time-enabled map.

Syrian children in a Turkish refugee camp this year. Turkey has become the largest host nation of refugees, as a result of people fleeing the conflict in Syria. Source: AAP

Syria became the largest nation of origin for refugees in 2014, with 3.88 million Syrian refugees now residing in other countries. 

Previously Afghanistan was the largest source and neighbouring Pakistan was the world's largest host of refugees.

The Syrian conflict has made Turkey the largest host nation of refugees in the world. 

War, conflict and persecution continued to displace people across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Central America and Eastern Europe, the latest figures from 2014 show.

An unprecedented 59.5 million people were forcibly displaced (refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people) in 2014 according to the UNHCR. Most of those people were displaced in previous years and continue to live away from their homes.

The 59.5 million includes what the United Nations calls 'Palestinian refugees', who lost their homes during the Arab-Israel conflict last century or are descendants of refugees, but are not under the UNHCR mandate.