Section: IDP Population Figures

Sub-section: Numbers of IDPs (by location)

• Last Updated: 22 February 2010
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Estimates for the total number of IDPs for all of Sudan (as of January 2010)

4.9 MILLION IDPs IN SUDAN AT THE START OF 2010

The figures presented here give an overview of the total number of IDPs in all of Sudan as of January 2010. See also the separate entries for Southern Sudan, the Three Areas, Eastern Sudan, Darfur and Khartoum respectively.

The 2010 Work Plan for Sudan, the Humanitarian Action in Southern Sudan Report (6-20 November 2009), the Humanitarian Update Southern Sudan (Issue No. 1 of 2010), the UNHCR Appeal 2010-2011, and the IOM and SSRRC Village Assessment Southern Kordofan give the following IDP figures for various parts of the country:

	2010 Work Plan for Sudan (Annex I, pp.108-158; the figures for the 10 Southern States are estimates for the period January - September 2009.)	Humanitarian Action in Southern Sudan Report, 6-20 November 2009 (The figures reflect the situation as of 24 November 2009.)	Humanitarian Update Southern Sudan (17 February 2010, situation as at year end 2009; see also the OCHA map dated 31 Dec 2009.)	UNHCR Global Appeal 2010-2011 (p.52; situation as of January 2010.)	IOM and SSRRC Village Assessment Southern Kordodan (p.4; situation as of June 2009.)
Northern Darfur	508,499
Southern Darfur	1,410,704
Western Darfur	746,912
Total Darfur	2,666,115
Central Equatoria	5,043	28,490	27,890
Eastern Equatoria	1,692	13,900	13,900
Jonglei	122,029	115,284	124,355
Lakes	24,691	32,345	48,122
Northern Bahr el Ghazal	700	0	0
Unity	10,000	2,420	3,272
Upper Nile	58,367	58,367	58,367
Warrab	30,000	30,935	37,935
Western Bahr el Ghazal	56,233	812	812
Western Equatoria	81,378	76,726	76,726
Total Southern Sudan	390,133	359,279	391,379
Southern Kordofan (incl. Abyei)	n/a				60,261
Blue Nile	n/a
Total Transitional States:	n/a				60,261
El Gezira	n/a
Khartoum	n/a			1.7 million
Northern	n/a
Northern Kordofan	n/a
River Nile	n/a
Sinnar	n/a
White Nile	n/a
Total Northern States:	n/a			1.7 million
Gedarif	n/a
Kassala	n/a
Red Sea	n/a
Total Eastern States:	n/a

Note 1: The IDP figures for Darfur and Khartoum include people who were newly displaced in 2009, as well as people who were first displaced before 2009 but who continued to be displaced in 2009. In contrast, the figures for the ten states in Southern Sudan are for people who were newly displaced in 2009, and do not include people who were displaced before 2009 but who had not yet been able to return to their homes. (For example, in 2008 187,000 people were estimated to have been newly displaced in Southern Sudan; it is unclear how many of the 187,000 people had been able to return to their homes by the end of 2008.)

Note 2: In relation to Southern Sudan, while the Work Plan figures for the 10 southern states add up to about 390,000 people, the Work Plan states elsewhere that:

"Conditions in Southern Sudan deteriorated alarmingly in 2009, with 2,500 people killed and more than 350,000 displaced as a result of violence" (Work Plan, p.1).

This is in line with the OCHA estimate of 359,279 IDPs as of 24 November 2009.

Note once more that it is not clear how many of these 350,000 - 390,000 people had been able to return to their homes by the end of 2009.


Combining these figures produces the following estimate for the total number of IDPs in all of Sudan:

Darfur: 2.7 million
Khartoum: 1.7 million
Southern: 390,000
Transitional areas: 60,000
Eastern States: not known

Total: 4,850,000 IDPs, plus unknown numbers of IDPs in the eastern states, the northern states other than the Greater Khartoum area, and Blue Nile state.


Note that UNHCR's Global Appeal for 2010-2011 uses a lower figure of 4.1 million for all of Sudan as of January 2010:


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