displaced persons, was at its highest level on record. Among them, Syrian refugees were the largest group in 2015 at 4.9 million. In 2014, Syrians had overtaken Afghan refugees (2.7 million), who had been the largest refugee group for three decades. Somalis were the third largest group with one million. The countries hosting the largest number of refugees according to UNHCR were Turkey (2.5 million), Pakistan (1.6 million), Lebanon (1.1 million) and Iran (1 million). the countries that had the largest numbers of internally displaced people were Colombia at 6.9, Syria at 6.6 million and Iraq at 4.4 million. Children were 51% of refugees in 2015 and most of them were separated from their parents or travelling alone. In 2015, 86% of the refugees under UNHCR's mandate were in low and middle-income countries that themselves are close to situations of conflict. Refugees have historically tended to flee to nearby countries with ethnic kin populations and a history of accepting other co-ethnic refugees. The religious, sectarian and denominational affiliation has been an important feature of debate in refugee-hosting nations. See also Asylum shopping Conservation refugee, people displaced when conservation areas are created Church asylum Deportation Diaspora, a mass movement of population, usually forced by war or natural disaster Emergencybnb, a website to find accommodation for refugees Emergency evacuation Forced displacement in popular culture Ghost town repopulation HIAS Homo sacer, a banned person who may be killed by anybody Human migration List of largest refugee crises List of people granted asylum List of refugees Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee who lived in Charles de Gaulle Airport Nansen Refugee Award No person is illegal, network that represents non-resident immigrants Open borders Political asylum Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program - resettling refugees with the support and funding from private or joint government-private sponsorship Queer migration Refugee and Asylum Participatory Action Research Refugee crisis Refugee health Refugee Nation, a plan to create a nation for refugees Refugee Phrasebook Refugee Radio Refugee Studies Centre Right of asylum Refugee children and refugee women Third country resettlement Footnotes References Works cited Further reading Fell, Peter and Debra Hayes (2007), "What are they doing here? A critical guide to asylum and immigration." Venture Press. Gibney, Matthew J. (2004), "The Ethics and Politics of Asylum: Liberal Democracy and the Response to Refugees"''', Cambridge University Press. Schaeffer, P (2010), 'Refugees: On the economics of political migration.' International Migration 48(1): 1–22.