As of end January 2010, there are some 79,300 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia.

• 73,300 are from Myanmar, comprising some 17,700 Rohingyas from the Northern Rakhine State of Myanmar, 35,300 Chins, 5,000 Myanmar Muslims and the remaining are other ethnic minorities from Myanmar.
• There are some 6,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from other countries, including some 3,000 Sri Lankans, 820 Somalis, 550 Iraqis and 540 Afghans.

69% of refugees and asylum-seekers are men, while 31% are women. There are some 18,300 children below the age of 18.

There is also a large number of persons of concern to UNHCR who remain unregistered. Refugee communities themselves estimate that the population of unregistered refugees and asylum-seekers to be some 20,000 persons.

The number of people forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution worldwide stood at 42 million at the end of last year amid a sharp slowdown in repatriation and more prolonged conflicts resulting in protracted displacement. The total includes 16 million refugees and asylum seekers and 26 million internally displaced people uprooted within their own countries, according to UNHCR’s 2008 annual “Global Trends” report. Learn more about the report here.

For more refugee stories in statistics, visit the UNHCR global website. UNHCR seeks to contribute to informed decision-making and public debate by providing accurate, relevant and up-to-date statistics. This site provides data, trends and statistical reports on the “People of concern to UNHCR”: refugees, asylum-seekers, returned refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons in more than 150 countries.