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EXPLAINER
About 8 million Venezuelans, or a quarter of the population, have fled their country in recent years. Al Jazeera takes a look at where they live now.
Published On 12 Jan 2026
After the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the United States on January 3, nearby countries that host large Venezuelan communities, including Colombia and Peru, have warned of a potential new influx of refugees if the country is distabilised.
The Venezuelan diaspora remains one of the largest in the world with at least 7.9 million people living outside the country as of early 2026, primarily due to nearly a decade of ongoing political and economic crises.
In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera unpacks where Venezuelans are living abroad, what protections they have and what the abilities are for Venezuelans wishing to travel.
Which countries host the most Venezuelans?
Venezuelan migration started with a small group of mostly professionals leaving the country after leftist leader Hugo Chavez became president in 1999, promising to change the old political system, which was stacked against the poor and the Indigenous people, with more than half of the population falling below the poverty line.
During one decade of Chavez’s rule, the country ramped up government spending using the revenue from oil sector. Millions of people were lifted from extreme poverty.
In 2013 after the death of Chavez, Maduro came to power and inherited high levels of debt and rising inflation. By 2014 as oil prices plummeted, these challenges escalated into an economic collapse.
The resource-rich nation experienced a deep depression and soaring inflation, making the cost of living unbearable. This situation led hundreds of thousands of people to flee abroad, primarily to countries within South and Central America as well as a significant number migrating to the US.
By June, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had tracked nearly 8 million refugees and migrants around the world with 6.7 million (85 percent) of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.
(Al Jazeera)The top host countries are:
- Colombia – 2.8 million
- Peru – 1.7 million
- US – 987,600
- Brazil – 732,300
- Chile – 669,400
- Spain – 602,500
- Ecuador – 440,400
- Argentina – 174,800
- Mexico – 106,000
- Dominican Republic – 99,700
What protections do Venezuelans have?
UNHCR lists Venezuelans under a unique category of displaced persons due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in their home country.
This classification allows them access to essential services, such as legal assistance, healthcare and shelter in host nations.
In Colombia, the region’s primary host with 2.8 million Venezuelans, the Temporary Protection Statute provides a 10-year residency permit. In the United States, a temporary protected status for Venezuelans was revoked in late 2025 by the Trump administration, leaving more than 600,000 Venezuelans uncertain about their future and legal status to live and work there.
The Trump administration also deported hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants, some of them to notorious prisons in El Salvador. Rights groups say many of them were tortured and sexually abused there.
According to the UN, nearly half of the Venezuelans who have left the country rely on informal, low-paid work, 42 percent struggle to afford enough food and 23 percent live in overcrowded housing.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Venezuelans who previously lived in the US under temporary protected status are now eligible to apply for asylum [File: Yuki Iwamura/AP]How strong is the Venezuelan passport?
Despite Venezuela’s unstable political and economic situation, its passport remains one of the stronger travel documents in the world, according to the 2026 Passport Index.
It currently ranks 42nd globally, providing visa-free, visa-on-arrival or e-visa access to 124 countries.
Venezuela has a longstanding visa waiver for the Schengen Area, allowing 90 days of visa-free travel to most of Europe. Additionally, Venezuelans may enter and work across much of South America due to decades-old regional mobility treaties.
(Al Jazeera)
