Refugee resettlement hits 20-year low amid pandemic, U.S. cuts - U.N.

FILE PHOTO: General view of a Syrian refugee camp in Marjayoun, southern Lebanon November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

GENEVA (Reuters) - Barely 1.6% of 1.44 million people with refugee status who were prioritised for resettlement in another country of asylum last year found new homelands through the U.N. refugee agency, the lowest number in nearly two decades, it said on Monday.

The drop to 22,770 admissions was due to lower quotas set by recipient countries, limited flights and delays in processing during the coronavirus pandemic, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. In 2019, it resettled 63,696 refugees in need of transfer from one asylum country to another.