At least 117.3 million people, or one in 69 people worldwide, remain forcibly displaced, according to a report released today by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Forced displacement as a result of conflict and violence, persecution and human rights violations has continued to increase in the first four months of 2024 and is likely to have exceeded 120 million by the end of April 2024.
Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, said: “Behind these stark and growing numbers lie countless human tragedies. “Such suffering must prompt the international community to act urgently to address the root causes of forced displacement.”
Of the 117.3 million forcibly displaced people, 68.3 million are internally displaced within their own countries due to conflict or other crises, such as Gaza, where the UN estimates that around 75 percent of the population, or more than 1 .7 million people have been displaced by Israel's continued attack. .
The number of refugees crossing international borders in 2023 increased by seven percent to 43.4 million. The increase is due to displacement in Sudan and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and other regions.
The number of asylum seekers (people seeking protection in another country due to persecution or fear of harm in their home country) waiting for a decision was 6.9 million, an increase of 26 percent on the year former.
The increase in refugees and displaced people
In 1951, the UN established the Refugee Convention to protect the rights of refugees in Europe after World War II. In 1967, the convention was expanded to address displacement in the rest of the world.
When the Refugee Convention was born, there were 2.1 million refugees. In 1980, the number of refugees registered by the UN exceeded 10 million for the first time. Wars in Afghanistan and Ethiopia during the 1980s caused the number of refugees to double to 20 million in 1990.
The number of refugees remained fairly constant over the next two decades.
However, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, along with civil wars in South Sudan and Syria, resulted in the number of refugees exceeding 30 million by the end of 2021.
The war in Ukraine, which began in 2022, sparked one of the fastest-growing refugee crises since World War II, with 5.7 million people forced to flee Ukraine in less than a year. At the end of 2023, six million Ukrainians remained forcibly displaced.
In 2023, the conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces increased the number of refugees to 1.5 million. Before the war, Sudan hosted many Syrian refugees. When the war began, the number of Syrian refugees in Sudan fell from 93,500 in 2022 to 26,600 in 2023, as many left for other countries. Thousands of people continue to be displaced daily, more than a year after the conflict began.
More recently, the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip has taken a devastating toll on the Palestinian population. UNRWA estimates that between October and December 2023, up to 1.7 million people (more than 75 percent of the population) have been displaced within the Gaza Strip, with many forced to flee multiple times.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is extremely serious: its 2.3 million inhabitants face food insecurity and the threat of famine.
Where do refugees come from?
Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of all refugees came from just five countries: Afghanistan (6.4 million), Syria (6.4 million), Venezuela (6.1 million), Ukraine (6 million) and Palestine. (6 millions).
Under international law, refugees are people who are forced to flee their countries of origin to escape persecution or a serious threat to their life, physical integrity or freedom.
Who hosts the largest number of refugees?
Nearly 70 percent of refugees and others in need of international protection lived in countries neighboring their countries of origin.
Globally, the largest refugee populations are in Iran (3.8 million), Turkey (3.3 million), Colombia (2.9 million), Germany (2.6 million), and Pakistan (2 million).
Almost all refugees in Iran and Pakistan are Afghans, while the majority of refugees in Turkey are Syrians.
Over the last decade, the number of refugees has increased in these major host countries, except in Turkey, where numbers have decreased by 14 percent since 2021.
Germany is the only major host country that does not have borders with the main countries of origin of refugees. The majority of refugees in Germany at the end of the year came from Ukraine (1.1 million), Syria (705,800), Afghanistan (255,100) and Iraq (146,500).
