This two-year-old refugee is struggling to keep warm in sub-zero temps in Greece. Her family's temporary shelter is a concrete warehouse.
World Refugee Crisis Explained
The Worst Refugees Crisis Since WWII
Save the Children does whatever it takes to ensure refugee children grow up healthy, educated and safe.
We work nonstop supporting refugee girls and boys, helping them survive, and thrive. Whether in camps, on the move or in host communities, our caring staff helps refugee children from Syria, South Sudan, Burundi and other countries marred by violence and persecution. Donate to the Child Refugee Crisis Relief Fund so they can have the future every child deserves.
How You Can Help Refugee Kids
$140 can provide a refugee child with nutritious food for a month, including milk and bread
$300 can help provide educational materials and art supplies to help children express difficult emotions
$500 can reunite families torn apart by war by providing a tracing and reunification kit
Other Ways to Help
Sponsor a Refugee Child
When you become a sponsor, you become the hero in the life of a refugee child. Your support and generosity will provide relief to children who have nothing left but hope. LEARN HOW
Donate to the Child Refugee Fund
Save the Children is a leading charity for refugee crisis donations. We’ve been responding to crises for almost 100 years. DONATE
Shop Our Gift Catalog
When a family loses everything, even the most basic items become priceless. Help provide families with family refugee emergency kits. BUY NOW
Sponsor a Refugee Child Like Lara
Children make up more than half of the world’s 22.5 million refugees*. Many have known nothing but war, deprivation and fear. They aren’t in school and often struggle to find the basic essentials – their lives and futures at risk.
You can help. By sponsoring a refugee child in Egypt, like Lara**, you can be a hero in her life and in the lives of other children in her community. With your steady support, they’ll finally have the chance to grow up healthy, learning and safe.
Because every child, everywhere, deserves a future.
*Source: UNHCR
**Name changed for protection
What is the Refugee Crisis?
- Worldwide, 22.5 million refugees, half of them children, have left everything behind to escape conflict, violence and persecution
- Many have experienced profound physical and emotional traumas
- Some are missing years of school, severely compromising their futures
- Children travelling alone are especially vulnerable – if they make it at all
- Others are starved out of their homelands due to drought and conflict
For more information, read the Refugee Children’s Progress Report and read What is a Refugee?
Refugee Children Across the World
Save the Children has been responding to crises around the world for almost 100 years. Since the refugee crisis erupted, we’ve been doing whatever it takes to help them survive and thrive in:
Syria
Chased by bombs and guns, over 5 million Syrian refugees have fled across the globe. Sadly, 2 in 3 children have suffered a war-related loss – lost a loved one, had their house bombed or endured injuries. Half of children are no longer in school – missing out on critical learning, stability and friendship. GET MORE FACTS
South Sudan
Children in the world’s youngest nation are enduring a deepening crisis. Since the outbreak of fighting in 2013, humanitarian needs in South Sudan have escalated to alarming levels and 2.1 million people have been forced to flee their homes. GET MORE FACTS
Uganda
Uganda – a country already hosting more than 1 million refugees – has been straining to help an ever-growing number of South Sudanese refugees. Our Emergency Health Unit has been deployed to save lives in the wake of a cholera outbreak in the camps. LEARN MORE
Burundi
More than 428,000 people have fled into neighboring countries since the post-election crisis in 2015. We are working in refugee camps, giving children the opportunity to learn and protection from harm.
Tanzania
Nearly 150,000 refugees have fled to Tanzania from Burundi, more than half of them are children. Our relief workers are protecting children, building schools, providing educational materials and teaching life skills to teens. LEARN MORE
Lebanon
One in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. We have reached over 530,000 Syrian refugees here, including 313,000 children, with critical protection, education, food and shelter assistance. FIND OUT MORE
Bangladesh
688,000 Rohingya men, women and children have crossed the border into Bangladesh, fleeing large-scale violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. We’re working to support their basic rights. GET MORE FACTS
Egypt
Egypt hosts more than 208,000 refugees. Over half are from Syria – others are from Iraq and several troubled African nations. Save the Children is helping refugees as well as the host communities straining to accommodate so many people in need. FIND OUT MORE
Ethiopia
Over 847,200 refugees from countries facing conflict in East Africa now live in Ethiopia. Our relief workers are protecting, educating and feeding children in refugee camps as well as helping surrounding communities withstand a deadly drought that has devastated the food supply. LEARN MORE
Kenya
Kenya is home to nearly half a million refugees, mostly from Somalia and South Sudan. We're working in Dadaab refugee camp to improve access to schooling and ensure that children are protected from harm. LEARN MORE
Myanmar
More than 688,000 Rohingya men, women and children have fled to Bangladesh, following a rapid and alarming escalation of violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State. LEARN MORE
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