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Photos: The world’s displaced population equivalent to 12th largest country

By the end of 2023, one in 69 people globally had been forcibly displaced, nearly double the one in 125 ratio a decade ago.

World’s displaced in images
Ma Phyu Ma, a 37-year-old internally displaced Rohingya woman, stands amid debris left behind by Cyclone Mocha in her village. Cyclone Mocha hit Myanmar’s Rakhine state with brutal force on May 14, 2023. An estimated 7.9 million people live in areas that experienced winds in excess of 90km/h during the cyclone. Of these, 3.4 million faced very destructive winds of more than 120 km/h, placing them at very high risk given the poor shelters in these locations and their existing vulnerabilities. The humanitarian response in cyclone-affected areas continues to expand, however much wider access is still needed to reach people in need. [Reuben Lim Wende/UNHCR]
Published On 13 Jun 2024

A report by the United Nations refugee agency says forced displacement surged to historic new levels across the globe last year.

Some 120 million people were displaced globally due to wars and conflicts, the UNHCR’s flagship Global Trends Report published on Thursday said.

The figure would make the global displaced population equivalent to the 12th largest country in the world, about the size of Japan.

“One hundred and twenty million is a pretty high figure and also very significant,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees.

“Most regrettably, it is the 12th consecutive year in which this figure goes up. Behind these stark and rising numbers lie countless human tragedies. That suffering must galvanise the international community to act urgently to tackle the root causes of forced displacement,” added Grandi.

Recent situations in Sudan, Gaza, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Myanmar are also creating new displacements.

At the end of 2023, 10.8 million Sudanese remained uprooted, while UNRWA estimates at that time said 1.7 million people had been displaced in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli attacks – 75 percent of the Strip’s population. Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 13.8 million forcibly displaced in and outside the country.

The largest increase in displacement came from people fleeing conflicts in their own countries, rising to 68.3 million people – up almost 50 percent over five years.

The number of refugees in need of international protection climbed to 43.4 million, the vast majority of them being hosted in countries neighbouring their own, with 75 percent residing in low and middle-income countries that together produce less than 20 percent of the world’s income.

The UNHCR warned that without better cooperation and concerted efforts to address the conflicts, human rights violations and the climate crisis, displacement figures will keep rising, bringing more misery and costly humanitarian responses.

World’s displaced in images
Sudanese IDPs and South Sudanese refugees proceed from Renk to Malakal on packed barges. With the difficult road access, river transportation is the only means for travellers. Although the distance is only 280km from Renk to Malakal, these boats spend two days in the river before arriving in Malakal. Since April 2023, thousands of Sudanese refugees and South Sudanese returnees keep arriving in Renk. Seven months later, more refugees and returnees keep arriving. [Ala Kheir/UNHCR]
Nafiso Ibrahim, 11, rolls a jerrycan of clean water she has fetched at a water stand in Dagahaley refugee camp. UNHCR and partners are providing humanitarian assistance including access to clean water to all newly arrived refugee families, most of whom escaped hard-hitting drought in Somalia. [Samuel Otieno/UNHCR]
Nafiso Ibrahim, 11, rolls a jerrycan of clean water she has fetched at a water stand in Dagahaley refugee camp. UNHCR and partners are providing humanitarian assistance including access to clean water to all newly arrived refugee families, most of whom escaped hard-hitting drought in Somalia. [Samuel Otieno/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
For her entire life – from the days of the former Soviet Union, until today in the Republic of Kazakhstan – Natalya has lived in Almaty. Twenty years ago, Natalya had not yet confirmed her citizenship of the recently independent Kazakhstan, and still held a USSR passport – until her employer lost it. Suddenly, Natalya found herself stateless. And without identity documents, Natalya could not register the birth of her daughter, so 10-year old Veronika, too, is stateless. [Izturgan Aldauyev/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
Fire rages in Camp 11 of Kutupalong Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 5, 2023. The blaze destroyed more than 3,000 shelters, leaving some 16,000 of the camp’s 32,000 Rohingya refugee population homeless, while some 200 people were treated for injuries. More than 155 facilities, including hospitals and learning centres, were also destroyed. Some 980 WASH facilities, including latrines, bathing facilities and the water network, were also damaged. [Sahat Zia Hero/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
A smile to say thank you, Salama had lost track of her mother Antoinette and her child while fleeing Kitshanga. Today, she arrived to find them in Rusayo. UNHCR and the humanitarian community plan to build an official site in Rusayo, thanks to 50 hectares (120 acres) of land granted by authorities to house these displaced families and allow them to forget their suffering. [Blaise Sanyila/UNHCR]
Anna, 34, arrived in Armenia with her son, Erik, three, on September 29, 2023. 'We were so scared! We were hungry all the way to Armenia, and I had no sweets for my son, and he was crying all the way to Goris. Please, find a way for me to stay in Goris. I don’t want to live far,' Anna said. In the last week of September 2023, following renewed hostilities in the South Caucasus region, refugees began arriving rapidly in Armenia. Within a week, some 100,000 refugees had crossed the border. [Karen Minasyan/UNHCR]
Anna, 34, arrived in Armenia with her son, Erik, three, on September 29, 2023. 'We were so scared! We were hungry all the way to Armenia, and I had no sweets for my son, and he was crying all the way to Goris. Please, find a way for me to stay in Goris. I don’t want to live far,' Anna said. In the last week of September 2023, following renewed hostilities in the South Caucasus region, refugees began arriving rapidly in Armenia. Within a week, some 100,000 refugees had crossed the border. [Karen Minasyan/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
Habiba Shoaib, an IDP from the Blue Nile and a community representative for women's and children's issues, is shown at Khor Ajwal, an IDP camp that hosts displaced people from Blue Nile state, in 2022. The camp is small with a population of two families per tent. [Ala Kheir/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
Halyna, 71, and her husband, Volodymyr, 71, fled their home in Kupiansk, Kharkiv, Ukraine, and sought refuge in Kremenchuk, Poltava region. When the couple arrived in a collective site in September 2022, it was in poor condition, but thanks to international donors and local NGOs, repairs were undertaken and new windows and doors were installed. The residents received new furniture in the rooms as well. The couple also received cash assistance from UNHCR, which is helping them to build a new life in Kremenchuk. [Alina Kovalenko/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
To combat desertification, local associations and internally displaced women have planted 2,000 trees in the Bogo internally displaced persons site in the Far North region of Cameroon. [Eugene Sibomana/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
Amina Saberi, 20, does housework through the skills she learned from a visually impaired programme organised by UNHCR in its encashment centre in Samarkhail, Bihsud district, Nangarhar province in Afghanistan. She is among 90 visually impaired students who were enrolled in the programme in late 2022. The participants have learned to read Braille and do basic maths, use a walking stick, and carry out domestic chores, such as cooking and washing, to enable them to contribute to family life. [Faramarz Barzin/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
Makendy and Lourdes fled Haiti due to a dire humanitarian situation caused by gang violence, insecurity and lack of access to basic services. Now they are part of the Local Integration Programme (PIL) initiative in Mexico, in which they were relocated from Chiapas to Aguascalientes, where they found a permanent job at Exedy Dynax, a Japanese company that manufactures automotive parts. This allows them to work with different schedules to take turns caring for their son. 'The day they called me to let me know that I had been hired at Exedy was a great happiness for me.' [Jeoffrey Guillemard/UNHCR]
World’s displaced in images
Ukrainian refugee Oleksander navigates the corridors of the Sunny Beach recreational base of the Council of Ministers, near Burgas, Bulgaria, in his wheelchair. He and his partner Svetlana are among many Ukrainian refugees receiving shelter support at Sunny Beach. Oleksander and Svetlana are originally from Dnipro, Ukraine. They arrived in Bulgaria in April 2022 with their cat Murzik. Oleksander uses a wheelchair and has been a disability pensioner for 15 years. Svetlana worked as a teacher at a kindergarten in Ukraine. [Dobrin Kashavelov/UNHCR]