The number of Syrian refugees returning to their homeland from Jordan has fallen significantly due to unstable security situations and the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations refugee agency said.

Some 5,500 Syrian refugees returned to their country in 2021 from Jordan, Dominik Bartsch, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative to Jordan, said in a report published Sunday by Jordan's state-owned Al-Mamlaka TV, adding that their return was voluntary.

The UN official said polls conducted by the UNHCR indicated that most refugees in Jordan expected to return to their country, but were unable to due to unstable security conditions and other reasons in Syria.

According to the UNHCR, Jordan is the world's second-largest refugee host country per capita, with 759,745 refugees, including 672,599 Syrian refugees and 66,386 Iraqi refugees.

While the Jordanian government claims there are 1.3 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, the UNHCR estimates that half of them are not registered with the organization.