Area: Syria

Population Size: 140,842

Established date: 1957

Background:

The information included here predates the start of the conflict in Syria in March 2011. For more up-to-date information, please visit the Syria crisis page.

Yarmouk camp is home to the largest Palestine refugee community in Syria.

It lies 8km from the centre of Damascus and is inside the city boundaries. Yarmouk resembles an urban quarter, and it looks very different from the other Palestine refugee concentrations in Syria.

Yarmouk was established in 1957. It occupies an area of 2.1 square kilometres to accommodate refugees who were scattering in mosques, schools and other public places.

Over the years, the refugees have improved their shelters and added more rooms to them. Today, the camp is crowded with cement block homes, and is densely populated. Three main roads lined with shops and crammed with service taxis and microbuses run through Yarmouk.

Many of the refugees in Yarmouk are professional, working as doctors, engineers and civil servants. Others are employed as casual labourers and street vendors. Overall, living conditions in Yarmouk are far better than those of the other Palestine refugee camps in Syria.