The COVID-19 pandemic is a defining global health crisis of our time. While the impact of COVID-19, including its mental health impact, is increasingly being documented, there remain important gaps regarding the specific consequences of the pandemic on particular population groups, including refugees and migrants. This study aims to uncover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of refugees and migrants worldwide, disentangling the possible role of social and daily stressors, i.e., experiences of discrimination and daily living conditions. Descriptive analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the responses of N = 20,742 refugees and migrants on the self-reporting global ApartTogether survey. Survey findings indicated that the mental health of refugees and migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly impacted, particularly for certain subgroups, (i.e., insecure housing situation and residence status, older respondents, and females) who reported experiencing higher levels of increased discrimination and increases in daily life stressors. There is a need to recognize the detrimental mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on particular refugee and migrant groups and to develop interventions that target their unique needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a period of uncertainty, inevitably affecting people’s mental health, with a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, such as migrants and refugees. To understand what could either mitigate or protect these outcomes, this study explored strategies that refugees and migrants used to cope with the pandemic and its mental health impact. The responses of N = 16 910 refugees and migrants from the worldwide ApartTogether survey were analysed using descriptive analysis and structural equation modelling. Findings indicate that most coping strategies were, either positively or negatively, associated with refugees’ and migrants’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coping strategies such as ‘activating myself’ and ‘thinking something good will come from this’ were associated with better mental health outcomes. Important differences between subgroups were found in the number and type of coping strategies, including displaying a higher number of coping strategies by older and female participants, while refugees and migrants living in precarious situations (e.g. being undocumented or living on street) identified less. This increased understanding of refugees’ and migrants’ differentiated coping behaviours creates avenues for more targeted interventions to support these groups in dealing with future stressful, widespread situations.