Worldwide, more people are fleeing wars, conflicts, violence and persecution than ever before. According to the UN Refugee Agency, the number was recently around 120 million.
According to an estimate by the UN Refugee Agency, around 120 million people are fleeing violence, oppression and war. That is almost ten percent more than a year ago, or around 1.5 percent of the entire world population. The number of refugees has thus reached an all-time high, the UNHCR said in Geneva.
The number of people fleeing has increased for the twelfth time in a row, according to the UNHCR annual report “Global Trends”. “Behind these bare and rising numbers lie countless human tragedies,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
Syria is the largest Displacement crisis of the world
At the end of last year, the UNHCR recorded 31.6 million refugees under its mandate. These are people who had to flee their home country because of war or persecution. According to the UNHCR, more than 60 million people were wandering around within their home countries as internally displaced persons at the end of 2023. In addition, the UNHCR records Palestine refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons and other groups in its “Global Trends”.
Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, the report says. According to UNHCR, 13.8 million Syrians are displaced inside and outside the country. A key factor in the worsening of global displacement is the devastating conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023. At the end of last year, a total of 10.8 million Sudanese were uprooted.
One sixth of Ukrainians fled abroad
In Ukraine, the number of internally displaced people fell to 3.7 million by the end of 2023, according to UNHCR estimates. However, the number of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers rose by 275,500 to six million by the end of last year. By the end of 2023, an estimated one-sixth of Ukraine’s pre-war population had fled abroad.
The UNHCR names the Middle East as another hotspot. In the Gaza Strip, up to 1.7 million people, or three quarters of the population, are fleeing the violence. Many have already been displaced several times.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, millions of people also lost their homes last year due to fighting and violence.