Total population of Syria 2010
The Syrian refugee crisis
The war in Syria has been escalating since 2011, which has made it difficult to estimate the current population of the country. The population of the country was last determined to be over 21 million in 2010. Previously, population growth rates had been relatively high, but since the war, Syria has been experiencing the opposite, and now claims the highest rate of population decline in the world.
Large numbers of Syrians have been fleeing the county and others have lost their lives due to the conflict within the country’s borders. As of October 2015, the total number of casualties had risen to over 250,000 - including around 116,000 civilians and about 13,000 children. This has caused more than 4 million people to flee the country, making it the worst refugee crisis of our generation. Still, millions more have also been internally displaced and the sheer scale of the crisis is evident.
Neighboring counties have received large numbers of Syrian refugees, but the crisis is now being felt across Europe as thousands of refugees are risking their lives everyday migrating to Europe in search of a brighter future. European cooperation is needed and not all countries are meeting Europe’s migrant quota.