Forced Displacement Survey – Zambia 2025
Forced Displacement Survey – Zambia 2025
Zambia is the fourth country of the Forced Displacement Survey (FDS), UNHCR’s flagship household survey programme. The FDS was launched as a joint initiative of the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats), the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees (COR) and UNHCR, with financial support from the European Union. Conducted in 2025, the FDS collected nationally representative, high-quality socio-economic data from over 4,000 households in Zambia—including refugees and asylum-seekers1, former refugees2, and host communities3.
In Zambia, the FDS yields vital insights into the lives and well-being of refugees generating evidence to inform inclusive, data-driven policymaking under the National Refugee Policy (2023) and its Implementation Plan. It generates evidence to extend development programmes into refugee-hosting areas towards transforming settlements into economic hubs. Its findings will not only guide the Government of the Republic of Zambia, UNHCR, and development partners in designing inclusive, evidence-based interventions but also allow the tracking of progress toward refugee inclusion in national systems.
Footnotes
The refugee population is comprised of all individuals who are registered with the Government of Zambia and who have, through the Government’s refugee status determination process, been granted the legal status as a refugee. Any individual who has subsequently naturalized or otherwise regularized his/her legal stay in Zambia is no longer considered a refugee.
For the purposes of the FDS in Zambia, a former refugee is defined as any refugee in Zambia who was subject to a group application of the cessation clause and who holds a registration certificate issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees. In Zambia’s case, this covers Angolan (cessation 2012) and Rwandan (cessation 2013) refugees. People with a refugee background who have since naturalized or otherwise formalized their stay in Zambia are not included.
Defined as the national population living in proximity to the refugee population, interacting and sharing space, resources, and opportunities with refugees.
