More than 114 million people in the world are currently forcibly displaced, which is the largest number ever recorded, the United Nations announced.
The number of displaced persons due to war, persecution, violence and violations of human rights in the world probably exceeded 114 million at the end of September, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) announced.
In the first six months of 2023, the main cause of population displacement was the conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also the long-term humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the combination of drought, floods and insecurity in Somalia.
More than half of the displaced had to cross state borders, the agency adds.
Almost a third of the displaced in the world are residents of three countries – Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine.
“The world’s attention is currently focused on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza for a reason. But at the international level, many conflicts are spreading and intensifying, taking the lives of innocent people, forcing people from their homelands,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
In a report that lists data for the first half of 2023, UNHCR estimates that there were 110 million displaced persons in the world in mid-June, which is 1.6 million more than in the same period in 2022.
The agency notes that in the next three months, that number increased even more, reaching 114 million people at the end of September.
That estimate, therefore, does not take into account the 1.4 million Palestinians who, according to the UN, were displaced within the Gaza Strip after October 7, when the war between Israel and Hamas began.
