Worldwide, 122.1 million people are forcibly displaced due to war, violence, or persecution, reports UNHCR. That is more than two million more than a year earlier, when the UN refugee agency also spoke of a record number.
The number of refugees has been increasing annually for ten years.
“We live in a time of intense instability where modern warfare creates a fragile and harrowing landscape characterized by acute human suffering,” says UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi at the publication of the annual report.
According to the organization, the number of refugees is “unsustainably high” and more money is needed. Funding has remained the same for ten years, while the number of refugees has almost doubled in that period.
Most refugees are displaced within their own country. At the end of last year, there were 73.5 million. The rest fled abroad. In Sudan, according to UNHCR, there is currently the “largest humanitarian crisis in the world”. There are also large groups of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Ukraine and the Palestinian Territories.
Two million Syrians were able to return home
However, Grandi also speaks of “some glimmers of hope”. “Almost two million Syrians were able to return home after more than ten years. The situation in the country remains fragile and people need our help to rebuild their lives.”
In 2024, a total of around 9.8 million people returned home after being forced to flee. Among them were 1.6 million refugees and 8.2 million internally displaced persons.
UNHCR does add a caveat, as much happened in an unfavorable political or unsafe climate. Many Afghans were forced to return to Afghanistan, where they arrived in poor conditions.