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At least 117.3 million people, or one in every 69 people worldwide, have been forcibly displaced, according to a report released today by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The number of people forcibly displaced by conflict and violence, persecution and human rights violations continued to increase in the first four months of 2024 and is likely to exceed 120 million by the end of April 2024.
“Behind these grim and rising figures lie countless human tragedies,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “Such suffering must prompt urgent international action to address the root causes of forced displacement.”
Of the 117.3 million forcibly displaced people, 68.3 million were displaced within their own countries due to conflict or other crises, such as in Gaza, where the United Nations estimates that about 75% of the population consists of Gaza, or more than 1.7 million people, who have been displaced by ongoing Israeli attacks.
The number of refugees crossing international borders increased by 7% to 43.4 million in 2023. The increase was driven by displacement in Sudan and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere.
The number of asylum seekers (people seeking protection in another country because they are persecuted or fear harm in their own country) awaiting a decision reached 6.9 million, an increase of 26% from the previous year.
The emergence of refugees and displaced persons
In 1951, the United Nations established the Refugee Convention to protect the rights of refugees in post-World War II Europe. In 1967, the convention was expanded to address displacement issues in other parts of the world.
When the Refugee Convention was created, there were 2.1 million refugees. In 1980, the number of refugees recorded by the United Nations exceeded 10 million for the first time. Due to the wars in Afghanistan and Ethiopia in the 1980s, the number of refugees doubled to 20 million by 1990.
Over the next two decades, refugee numbers remained fairly stable.
However, the US invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, combined with civil wars in South Sudan and Syria, led to more than 30 million refugees by the end of 2021.
The war in Ukraine that began in 2022 has led to 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. As of the end of 2023, 6 million Ukrainians were still forcibly displaced.
In 2023, conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan has increased the number of refugees to 1.5 million. Before the war, Sudan provided shelter to 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, with many leaving for other countries. More than a year after the conflict began, thousands of people are still displaced every day.
Recent Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip has taken a devastating toll on the Palestinian people. UNRWA estimates that up to 1.7 million people (more than 75% of the total population) were displaced in the Gaza Strip between October and December 2023, with many forced to flee multiple times.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is extremely serious, with all 2.3 million residents facing the threat of food insecurity and famine.
Origin of refugees
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of refugees come from just five countries: Afghanistan (6.4 million), Syria (6.4 million), Venezuela (6.1 million), Ukraine (6 million) and Palestine (6 million).
Under international law, a refugee is a person who has been forced to flee his or her country to escape persecution or serious threat to his or her life, personal safety or freedom.
Who takes in the most refugees?
Nearly 70% of refugees and other people in need of international protection live in countries neighbouring their countries of origin.
Globally, the countries hosting the largest number of refugees are 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 most refugees in Turkey are Syrians.
Refugee numbers in these major host countries have increased over the past decade, with the exception of Turkey, where refugee numbers have fallen by 14% since 2021.
Germany was the only major host country that did not border a major refugee country. At the end of the year, most refugees in Germany came from Ukraine (1.1 million), Syria (705,800), Afghanistan (255,100) and Iraq (146,500).
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