The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the global number of forcibly displaced people had surpassed 100 million for the first time, calling it a “staggering milestone”.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the grim new statistic should serve as a wake-up call to the international community and that more action is needed internationally to address the root causes of forced displacement around the world.
Officials said the number of people fleeing conflict, violence, human rights abuses and persecution has risen to unprecedented levels due to the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts.
“One hundred million is a blatant number – sobering and alarming at the same time,” said Grandi. “This must serve as a wake-up call to resolve and prevent destructive conflict, end persecution and address the underlying causes that are forcing innocent people to flee their homes.”
The number reached 90 million in late 2021, fueled by a range of conflicts including in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Nigeria.
Eight million Ukrainians have been internally displaced as a result of the war, along with more than six million registered movements of refugees from Ukraine.
“The international response to people fleeing the war in Ukraine has been overwhelmingly positive,” Grandi said. “Compassion is alive and we need a similar mobilization for all crises around the world. But ultimately, humanitarian aid is a palliative, not a cure. To reverse this trend, the only answer is peace and stability, so that innocent people are not forced to gamble between imminent danger at home and precarious flight or exile.”
The term “displaced person” was first used during World War II, when more than 40 million people were forcibly displaced.
A December 2021 report from the Library of the House of Lords cites UNHCR statistics showing that the number of people forcibly displaced worldwide surpassed 84 million by mid-2021. This was an increase from the estimated 82.4 million at the end of 2020. Armed conflict, violence and human rights abuses were the main causes. The report also found that the Covid-19 pandemic, disasters, extreme weather conditions and the other effects of climate change had created additional challenges for displaced people.
UNHCR reported that the number of refugees under its mandate had surpassed 20.8 million by the end of June 2021, an increase of 172,000 from the end of 2020. More than half of those granted international protection came from five countries – Central African Republic ( 71,800), South Sudan (61,700), Syria (38,800), Afghanistan (25,200) and Nigeria (20,300).
Syria continued to have the largest refugee population in the world. Venezuelans were the second largest group and Afghans formed the third largest group.
The three countries with the most displaced people were Turkey with 3,696,800, Colombia with 1,743,900 and Uganda with 1,475,300.
On June 16, UNHCR will release its annual Global Trends Report, which will include a full set of global, regional and national data for 2021, as well as more limited updates for April 2022.