News Center- The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has published Thursday its latest Global Trend report, including the latest official statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people, as well as the number of refugees who have returned home.

At the end of 2023, an estimated 117.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing the public order, the report said.

In May, 120 million people were displaced globally, nearly 10% more than the figures from 2022, representing around 1.5% of the world's population, the UNHCR said.

The report highlighted flashpoints around the world where conflict and violence had forced people from their homes. Forced displacement is a consequence of the failure to uphold peace and security, the UNHCR emphasized.

Sudan, Myanmar and Gaza

“Conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023, causing one of the largest humanitarian and displacement crises in the world. More than 6 million people were displaced within the country, with a further 1.2 million fleeing to neighboring countries,” the report said. “In Myanmar, escalating violence following the military takeover in February 2021, displaced more than 1.3 million people within the country in 2023. While in the State of Palestine, UNRWA estimates that between October and December 2023, up to 1.7 million people (or over 75 per cent of the population) were displaced by the conflict in the Gaza Strip, with some forced to flee multiple times.”

At the end of 2023, 68.3 million people remained internally displaced due to conflict and violence. An estimated 9.1 million people were displaced within Sudan, the largest internally displaced population ever reported. This was followed by Syria (7.2 million), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.7 million), according to the report.

‘The global refugee population reached to 43.4 million’

According to the report, the global refugee population increased by 7 per cent to reach 43.4 million during the year. This includes 31.6 million refugees and people in a refugee-like situation and 5.8 million other people in need of international protection under UNHCR's mandate, as well as 6 million Palestinian refugees under UNRWA's mandate. Compared to a decade ago, the total number of refugees globally has more than tripled.

“The largest proportion of refugees globally were from Afghanistan and Syria, both with 6.4 million each, and together equivalent to one-third of all refugees under UNHCR’s mandate. These were followed by Venezuela (6.1 million refugees and other people in need of international protection) and Ukraine (6.0 million refugees).”

‘Conflict remains a very, very big driver of mass displacement’

"Conflict remains a very, very big driver of mass displacement,” said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “These are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, people being forced away by conflict, by persecution, by different and increasingly complex forms of violence.”

“Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I actually see that figure continuing to go up,” Filippo Grandi warned.

“This year, for the 12th consecutive year, the number of refugees and displaced people has grown: from 114 to 120 million. Behind these numbers lie as many human tragedies, which only solidarity and concerted action can alleviate and solve,” Filippo Grandi said in a post on X.