The number of people in the world who have been displaced from their countries due to war, persecution, or natural disaster is hardly what one might think of as a market. And yet those involved in helping this unfortunate population—as it awaits the opportunity to return home or seeks a way to resettle in a new home—may view it in ways quite similar to a growing market.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, the total number of refugees in the world at the end of 2012 was 45.2 million. This included 28.8 million people displaced within their own countries, 15.4 million international refugees and nearly one million people in the process of seeking asylum. This figure represented a 20 year high, however, it has done nothing but rise ever since. The ongoing civil war in Syria has lead to a massive exodus from that country, a flow which has only increased since the end of 2012.

Today’s market size is the approximate number of Syrian refugees being housed in Turkey as of the middle of 2013 and a projected figure as of the end of 2014. Already in 2012, Turkey supplanted the United States on the list of top ten nations by the number of refugees hosted, taking over the tenth spot on that list.

Geographic reference: Turkey
Year: mid-2013 and a projection for the end of 2014
Market size: 400,000 and 1.5 million respectively
Sources: (1) Mac McClelland, “Container City,” New York Times Magazine, February 16, 2014, pgs. 24-31. (2) “Statistics — 2012 UNHCR Statistics Yearbook,” a summary online at this UN website.
Original source: United Nations Refugee Agency
Posted on February 19, 2014