Taking Stock of the Evidence on the Consequences of Hosting Refugees in the Global South

Abstract

As part of the recent public discussion on forced displacement is the central question of how refugees impact host societies they settle into. Much of this debate focuses on refugees residing in industrial countries such as the USA or Germany, however the fact that the vast majority of displaced individuals do not travel far from their original communities suggests greater attention needs to be paid on low- and middle-income contexts. In an effort to lay the groundwork for future scholarship, this chapter takes stock of the recent empirical evidence on the consequences of hosting refugees concentrated within the Global South. Moreover, attention is given to those general subjects with relatively more established evidence from the literature including economic and social impacts, as well as to a lesser extent issues like environmental and health effects. Heterogeneous impacts are emphasized where possible—for example, based on gender—considering the diversity within host communities themselves, as are the varied refugee-hosting contexts. We conclude with a policy-related discussion and directions of future research.