This huffpost explains the discrepancy (and how western media organisations choose to ignore the reasons in their self-absorbed vilification and chest-thumping)

This huffpost explains the discrepancy (and how western media organisations choose to ignore the reasons in their self-absorbed vilification and chest-thumping) : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anhvinh-doanvo/europes-crisis-refugees_b_8175924.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anhvinh-doanvo/europes-crisis-... " The UNHCR counts refugees by noting only those "persons recognized as refugees under the 1951 UN Convention/1967 Protocol, the 1969 OAU Convention, in accordance with the UNHCR Statute, persons granted a complementary form of protection and those granted temporary protection." Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE are not parties to any of the UN protocols on refugees, and so through this technicality, they, along with most of their refugees, are excluded from many refugee counting mechanisms." "With Saudi Arabia's non-signatory status, the Syrians residing in Saudi Arabia are classified as "Arab brothers and sisters in distress" instead of refugees covered by UN treaties" "The government itself of Saudi Arabia has stated that it has, over the past five years since the start of the conflict hosted 2.5 million refugees."