Over 89 million people worldwide have been forced to leave their homes, displaced by conflict or persecution. At least 27 million of these people are refugees who fled their countries to seek safety in another country. Over 53 million are internally displaced people who were forced to flee their homes, but remained in their own country. 

The financial industry has largely overlooked this population as a viable segment, perceiving them as too risky. A major misconception is that refugees are constantly on the move and will only remain for a short while in their host country. However, 78 percent of all refugees are in protracted refugee situations, meaning populations of 25,000 or more refugees from the same nationality who have been in exile for five consecutive years or more in a given host country. And mounting evidence shows that refugees are as credit-worthy, with repayment rates as high as those of non-refugees. 

What can you find in this Topic Hub?

Curated by FinDev editors, this Topic Hub offers you access to key resources contributed by organizations around the world who work on the topic of financial inclusion and microfinance services for refugees. Our latest blogs and publications on this topic are featured here (in the Resources Tab above), and you can find a collection of papers, case studies and guides to explore further. When there are upcoming webinars, events and recent news on this topic, they will be featured in the Topic Hub as well, so make sure to come back regularly for the latest on this topic. Finally, we’ve selected some key additional resources, which are listed on the right here, where you can learn even more about this topic.

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