Venezuela refugee crisis: Largest in the modern history of Latin America

Since 2015, over 5.6 million Venezuelans have fled the nation to flee violence, insecurity, and threats, as well as a long-running economic crisis that has resulted in a scarcity of food, medicines, and basic services. 

Approximately 2.5 million people have settled in the Americas, where most were self-sufficient before the pandemic struck, resulting in job losses, evictions, and an increase in gender-based violence. 

As the response to the crisis remains chronically underfunded, the ongoing migration of millions of Venezuelans has reached a "tipping point." 

Venezuela had a population of 30 million people in 2015, and more than 5.6 million people have departed the country since then. 

“People are still crossing, they’re very much estimates because the borders are closed and people are using irregular crossing points, but we are looking in the past few weeks at 2,000 Venezuelans a day getting into Colombia”, said Marie-Helene Verney, UNHCR Head of Operations for the Venezuela Situation.

“We’re seeing a lot - and I mean a lot - of women with children on their own coming out at the moment. Then what? Then they arrive and because they have entered irregularly, it can be very difficult if not impossible for them to get regular status.”

According to the UNHCR, approximately two million Venezuelan migrants have landed in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, which have some of the world's highest rates of coronavirus infection and death.