GENEVA: An estimated 2.5 million refugees worldwide will need to be resettled next year, the UN said Tuesday, at a time when the United States but also other nations are shrinking resettlement access.

UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said the needs were down slightly from this year, when around 2.9 million refugees are estimated to need resettlement.

“This is mainly due to the changed situation in Syria, which has allowed for voluntary returns,” UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva.

“We are seeing some people pull out of resettlement processes in favor of plans to go home to rebuild,” she added.

Mantoo said that in 2026, the largest refugee populations likely to need to be resettled were Afghans, Syrians, South Sudanese, Rohingya from Myanmar, and Congolese.

Most of the refugees will need resettling from major host countries including Iran, Turkiye, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Uganda, she said.

The announcement came as the UNHCR’s resettlement efforts face towering hurdles.

“In 2025... resettlement quotas are expected to be the lowest in two decades, falling below the levels seen even during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many countries paused their programs,” Mantoo said.

Part of the decline is linked to the United States — long the world’s biggest resettler of refugees — which has now slammed its doors shut.

Shortly after returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump halted the US refugee resettlement program.

Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had embraced the program designed to facilitate legal resettlement of vetted refugees, resettling over 100,000 refugees in the United States last year.

Mantoo stressed though that the problem was not with just one country.

“We have indications that a number of countries are reducing or adjusting quotas,” she said.

Stressing that resettlement among other things “offers a concrete alternative to dangerous journeys,” Mantoo urged countries to “sustain their programs and increase their intake.”

In recognition that the needs far outstrip the available spots, she said that the international community had set itself a goal of resettling 120,000 refugees in 2026.

“Recent history shows that this is achievable,” she said.

Last year, she said that despite the challenges, the UNHCR supported the resettlement of 116,000 refugees globally.

“Every place is invaluable for those fleeing danger.”

Earlier this month UNHCR said a record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024.

But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by the end of April this year, as Syrians began returning home after years of turmoil.