Figure combines refugees, asylum-seekers, and nearly 60 million people displaced inside their own countries.
More than 100 million people have been driven from their homes around the world, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says, citing new data about those escaping violence, conflict, persecution and human rights violations.
The war in Ukraine has been one of the factors propelling millions of people to flee, UNHCR said on Monday, adding protracted conflict in places such as Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were also behind the high numbers.
“It’s a record that should never have been set”, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in a statement. “This must serve as a wake-up call to resolve and prevent destructive conflicts, end persecution, and address the underlying causes that force innocent people to flee their homes”.
The 100 million figure amounts to more than 1 percent of the global population. Only 13 countries have a bigger population than the number of forcibly displaced people in the world.
In 2012, the figure stood at 41 million while in 2019 it reached 79.5 million....
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