The Lost Boys of Sudan
Who Were the Lost Boys of Sudan? In the mid-1980s, civil war erupted in Sudan. Government-backed militias launched brutal attacks on villages in southern Sudan, killing numerous civilians. Thousands of...
/
Blog / The 8 Largest Refugee Camps and Settlements in the World: 2026 Update
Every year, millions of people are forced to flee their homes from violence and persecution, often with nowhere to go. Refugee camps are essential to providing shelter, safety, and basic services for refugees. These camps often provide crucial and urgent assistance to help refugees reach stability, yet also present unique challenges due to their sheer scale, diverse populations, and the prolonged nature of displacement.
For many refugees, the ability to return home or safely remain in the country to which they’ve fled is not an option. RefugePoint helps these people permanently relocate to a safe, new country to rebuild their lives. One way we do this is by identifying refugees, many of whom live in refugee camps, and referring them for resettlement consideration by governments worldwide. For refugees who must remain in the country to which they’ve fled, we help them reach stability and work towards self-reliance, so they can meet their own essential needs.
Below, we highlight the eight largest refugee camps globally, shedding light on their populations, challenges, and how organizations are supporting the refugees who live in each camp.
Please note: Figures below are drawn directly from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and partner reporting; refugee populations shift constantly, sometimes by tens of thousands, month to month.
Updated as of July 2026
View of the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: UK Department for International Development. Creative Commons License.
Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh is the world’s largest refugee settlement complex. Kutupalong Refugee Camp, originally established in 1991 to host Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar, expanded dramatically in 2017, when more than 750,000 Rohingya crossed the border in a matter of weeks following targeted violence in Rakhine State carried out by the military. UN investigators concluded the military campaign was carried out with “genocidal intent,” involving mass killings, sexual violence, and the systematic burning of villages. The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar’s Rakhine State, have faced decades of state-sanctioned persecution, including the 1982 revocation of their citizenship, which left them stateless. Today, the broader Cox’s Bazar response encompasses 33 highly congested camps and Bhasan Char island.
In March 2026, UNHCR reported that the Rohingya population in Bangladesh grew by nearly 179,000 over the previous 12 months. The Rohingya remain the world’s largest stateless population, and 95% of households depend on humanitarian assistance. Sharp funding cuts in 2025 and 2026 have produced what UN agencies describe as a deepening child malnutrition crisis.
RefugePoint currently has resettlement staff based in Cox’s Bazar to assist Rohingya refugees in accessing resettlement, having first deployed staff with resettlement and child protection expertise (Experts) to the region in 2022. We have also deployed Child Protection Experts to conduct assessments to determine solutions that are in the best interests of the child, often working with unaccompanied or separated children.
Additional Source: UNHCR Rohingya Refugee Population Dashboard, February 28, 2026
* Unlike the other entries, the eastern Chad response is a cluster of more than 10 camps rather than a single named site, and with 1.3+ million refugees in the area, it is one of the largest and fastest-growing crises in the world today.
In April 2023, war broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), quickly becoming the world’s largest displacement crisis. The violence has been particularly catastrophic in Darfur, where the RSF and allied militias have been accused of ethnically targeted attacks against the Masalit and other non-Arab communities, drawing comparisons to the genocide of the early 2000s. Chad, already one of the world’s poorest countries, has received the heaviest share of those crossing west.
Sudanese refugees in Chad live in various camps, including Farchana, Treguine, Touloum, Goudrane, Aboutengue, Metché, and others, in addition to the Adré transit area near the Sudanese border. The border town of Adré, which had a pre-war population of just 40,000, has at times hosted more than 235,000 refugees in its transit area alone.
UNHCR leads the response in coordination with the Government of Chad and partners, including the World Food Program, UNICEF, and Médecins Sans Frontières, providing emergency shelter, food, water, healthcare, and nutrition treatment for malnourished children, while RefugePoint is working to identify and submit refugees facing extreme vulnerabilities for resettlement consideration. We have deployed approximately 30 Experts throughout Chad since 2014, and have supported resettlement, child protection, family reunification, and complementary pathways activities there. RefugePoint currently has Resettlement Experts deployed to Chad and Egypt and is supporting resettlement efforts in South Sudan, among other countries in the region.
Additional Sources: UNHCR Chad Operational Data Portal & UNHCR Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan 2026
Refugee shelters in the Dadaab Camp, northern Kenya. Photo: UK Department for International Development. Creative Commons License.
The Dadaab refugee complex was established in 1991 to accommodate Somali refugees escaping civil war, and over the past three decades has hosted refugees from across the region. After the number of refugees living in the camp dropped below 200,000 in the late 2010s following voluntary repatriation efforts, the population in Dadaab has surged once again, as a result of recent crises in Somalia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Ethiopia. The complex now comprises the three original camps (Dagahaley, Hagadera, Ifo) along with Ifo 2. In a historic shift, Kenya’s government officially reclassified both of the country’s refugee camps, Dadaab and Kakuma, as municipalities in November 2025, ending their status as temporary camps after more than three decades—part of the broader Shirika Plan launched in March 2025 to integrate refugees into county systems.
Following cuts in USAID and other funding sources, the 2025 REACH Multi-Sector Needs Assessment documented severe deterioration in conditions at Dadaab. The World Food Program has reduced rations of the minimum food basket and suspended cash assistance for many families, contributing to rising malnutrition.
RefugePoint has been working to identify skilled refugees in Dadaab for labor mobility opportunities, including the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), which helps Canadian employers find qualified applicants while allowing refugees to rebuild their lives in a safe, new country. UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF, and numerous NGOs deliver food, healthcare, education, and protection services across the complex.
Kakuma was first established in 1992 to host more than 20,000 Sudanese children, known as the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” who were displaced during the Sudanese civil war. The camp still accommodates a significant South Sudanese population alongside refugees from across the continent. The Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, opened in 2016, was designed to pilot a more integrated approach where refugees and host communities share services and economic opportunities. Kakuma has historically been one of the largest, longstanding refugee camps in the world, and many refugees have spent their entire lives within its perimeter.
Funding cuts in 2025 hit Kakuma hard: World Food Program ration cuts left many residents without adequate food assistance, prompting spontaneous returns to South Sudan.
RefugePoint deployed Resettlement and Child Protection Experts to Kakuma from 2008 through 2016. Today, RefugePoint helps people access lasting solutions by identifying skilled refugees for labor mobility opportunities and by supporting refugee-led organizations that are serving their communities.
Nakivale is the oldest refugee settlement in Uganda, established in 1958 and formally recognized in 1960. It is now the largest refugee settlement in Uganda. Covering approximately 185 square kilometers and divided into around 80 villages, Nakivale hosts refugees primarily from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, and other countries. Uganda’s settlement model allocates each registered refugee household a small plot of arable land, intended to support self-sufficient agriculture alongside local Ugandan host communities. With approximately 1.9 million refugees and asylum seekers living in Uganda, the country hosts one of the largest refugee populations in Africa and the world.
The settlement has come under increasing strain in 2025 and 2026 as international funding has contracted sharply. Since 2009, RefugePoint has deployed roughly 13 Experts to Nakivale, supporting both Resettlement and Child Protection casework in the settlement.
The Adjumani district hosts a constellation of refugee settlements, including Maaji, Pagirinya, Nyumanzi, and others, that together form one of the largest concentrations of South Sudanese refugees in the world. The Maaji settlements were originally established in 1997 to host Sudanese refugees fleeing the Second Sudanese Civil War. The area saw renewed waves of arrivals after South Sudan’s 2013 conflict and again in 2016. The Adjumani settlements operate under Uganda’s settlement model, with refugees integrated into local services and given access to land.
Despite hosting the largest number of refugees in Uganda, services in Adjumani are underfunded, with school enrollment rates consistently below the national primary school average, and 2025 funding cuts have hit infrastructure and education hardest. Several NGOs operate across the district offering education, social services, and livelihood opportunities. RefugePoint staff work across Uganda to identify and submit refugees for resettlement.
Since 2022, RefugePoint has deployed Resettlement and Child Protection Experts to Adjumani, where they identify and refer refugees for resettlement to safe third countries and conduct child protection assessments to support the identification of appropriate solutions for vulnerable children.
Additional Source: UNHCR Uganda — Active Population by Settlement, 28 February 2026
Maban County in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State is home to one of the world’s largest, yet least recognized, refugee-hosting areas. Its four camps, Yusuf Batil, Doro, Gendrassa, and Kaya, primarily host Sudanese refugees from Blue Nile State who fled earlier waves of conflict, with significant new arrivals since the April 2023 outbreak of war in Sudan. UNHCR notes that the refugee population now exceeds the local host community by roughly three to one. South Sudan as a whole hosts more than 628,000 refugees, 95% of them from Sudan.
UNHCR leads the response in coordination with the Government of South Sudan and partners, including WFP, UNICEF, and others, providing food, shelter, healthcare, education, and protection services across the four camps. In the past, RefugePoint staff supported refugees to access resettlement and assisted at-risk children with their protection needs.
A group of South Sudanese refugees who had just arrived at Bidi Bidi Settlement. Photo: Denis Onyodi / Uganda Red Cross-Climate Centre. Creative Commons License.
Bidi Bidi was established in August 2016 to respond to the influx of South Sudanese refugees fleeing renewed civil war. Within five months, it had welcomed more than 280,000 people, briefly becoming the largest refugee camp in the world. Bidi Bidi was designed as a settlement (not a camp): refugees receive small plots of land for cultivation, have the right to work and move freely, and live alongside host communities.
Today, Bidi Bidi spans roughly 250 square kilometers across five zones and is increasingly described as a city in formation, with markets, schools, churches, and arts venues.
RefugePoint has deployed Resettlement and Complementary Pathways Experts across Uganda since 2009. These staff help identify refugees in the camps who are facing extreme vulnerabilities and submit their cases for resettlement or support their applications for other pathways to safety.
Like most refugee camps, the eight profiled above were originally designed to be temporary, yet most have existed for a decade or longer, and some for more than thirty years. Each year, only a small fraction of the world’s refugees gain access to a long-term solution: voluntary return home, resettlement to a new country, or legal integration where they currently live. The majority of refugees are indefinitely dependent on humanitarian aid to survive.
Supporting refugees to access self-reliance and lasting solutions through education, healthcare, livelihood opportunities, and a sense of community is not just a humanitarian imperative but a step towards more durable and dignified outcomes for people whose displacement may otherwise last for decades.
Innovative, inclusive long-term responses are needed to shift this paradigm and address the significant nature of displacement today and in the future. This is the focus of RefugePoint’s strategy.
RefugePoint seeks to expand equitable access to lasting solutions and increase the total number of refugees able to access those solutions. We do this through direct services, field building, and systems change work. In practice, that means everything from identifying a refugee with an urgent medical need and submitting their case for resettlement, to training other organizations and shaping the policies that govern refugee response worldwide.
Through this three-pronged approach, we improve the lives of thousands of refugees, strengthen the capacity of other organizations to better serve refugees, and influence global policy and practice to transform refugee response systems.
Make a gift to deliver lasting solutions for refugees and help them to build new lives.
By subscribing you agree to with our Privacy Policy & provide consent to receive updates from Refuge Point.
Your gift will be used to deliver lasting solutions for refugees around the world, and help them rebuild their lives in safety.
Stay in the know about our work with refugees: get RefugePoint news, refugee stories, events, and more delivered right to your inbox.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
