TEHRAN - The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said those Afghan refugees returning from Iran often have more education, better food security, and housing than those returning from Pakistan.

UNHCR’s “Afghanistan post-return monitoring survey report” released on Tuesday highlighted different challenges for Afghan returnees from Iran versus Pakistan.

Those from Iran often have more education, better food security, and housing, while returnees from Pakistan face severe economic hardship, relying more on daily wages and carrying heavier debt burdens, according to the report.

Returnees from Iran were slightly less likely to hold debt than those from Pakistan, while differences between female-headed (90 percent) and male-headed (87 percent) households were minimal. 

Returnees from Pakistan, particularly recent arrivals, are more likely to rent housing and struggle to afford rent, whereas returnees from Iran more often own or inherit their homes. Access to safe water and sanitation is also more limited for returnees from Pakistan.

On Monday, 2,827 Afghan migrants were repatriated from Iran and Pakistan.
Over the past four decades, Iran has been one of the top countries hosting the largest number of refugees and migrants, despite many challenges facing the country.

The majority of these refugees are from Afghanistan who have fled from their home country due to wars, insecurity, poverty, and crises.

In 2023, the global number of international migrants was approximately 304 million, with 83 million of them living in internal displacement.

According to UNHCR, Iran is host to some 773,000 refugees holding Amayesh cards, and over 2.7 million in a refugee-like situation. The total number of refugees has turned Iran into the second-largest host of refugees. Hosting more than 3.5 million refugees, Iran is an important part of this global picture and one of the key players in managing the migration crisis.

Surprisingly, field reports and unofficial statistics claim that seven million Afghans are residing in the country, four million of whom are undocumented.

However, Iran is facing severe challenges as the international community has provided less than a third of the funding needed to address the humanitarian needs of refugees.

In the first nine months of 2025, more than 1.7 million Afghan refugees have returned from Iran to Afghanistan, the UNHCR reported in a press release on October 27.