Syrian refugee numbers understate the immensity of the dislocation that has already occurred

Over 300,000 Syrians are refugees outside of their country, in addition to large numbers in Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon, there are sizable numbers of better-off Syrians in the Gulf, esp. in the UAE.  What we are lacking are reliable estimates of internal refugees.  As a benchmark, it should be kept in mind that internally displaced persons and external refugees in Iraq (c. 2006-7) reached one seventh of the population of the total population (approx. 28m. vs. 23 m. in Syria) of Iraq, of whom about sixty percent were internally displaced.  That is a reminder that for every one of the 300,000 Syrians who have probably fled their country, there are probably another 300,000 or so who have sought shelter in Syrian villages and towns.  In other words, when considering the numbers of refugees, one should probably assume that the reported numbers are only a fraction of the human dislocation that has occurred to date.