UNHCR's Operational Data Portal has published an updated September 2026 picture of forced displacement in Chad, showing the refugee population continuing to climb as the Sudan conflict and Lake Chad basin instability keep driving people across the country's borders.
According to UNHCR's data portal, the total refugee population in Chad reached 1,574,102 as of 21 September 2026, up from roughly 1.56 million at the end of July. Asylum seekers numbered 9,554 as of the end of August. Chad's internally displaced population linked to Boko Haram-related violence in the Lake Chad basin stood at 219,595, a figure drawn from IOM data dated to the end of 2025. As of July 2026, UNHCR estimated Chad was hosting approximately 2.28 million forcibly displaced people in total, a number that has been rising steadily month over month through 2026.
The update coincides with a Flash Update on a new influx of Sudanese refugees into Chad, published by UNHCR on 21 September, reflecting continued arrivals tied to fighting between Sudan's government and the Rapid Support Forces. Since the Sudan conflict began in April 2023, hundreds of thousands of refugees have crossed into Chad, with cumulative arrivals numbering in the hundreds of thousands and new arrivals continuing to be recorded through September 2026.
Separately, UNHCR warned in late September that severe funding shortfalls are straining its global refugee response, with specific consequences cited for Chad: around 319,000 refugees there face registration delays that leave them without documentation needed to access services, while roughly 233,000 children risk losing access to child protection programs. Chad continues to host large Sudanese refugee flows alongside displacement linked to instability in the Lake Chad basin, consistent with trends tracked across UNHCR's reporting cycles this year.