According to the UN’s refugee agency, the number of people displaced from their homes worldwide last year equated to the population of London.
The latest annual report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reveals that the number of forcibly displaced people in 2023 reached a record high of over 117 million, largely due to ongoing conflicts. Notably, conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan continue to show minimal signs of resolution.
The 8.8 million individuals displaced in 2023, a figure almost equivalent to London’s population, surpassed the previous record set the year before. This increase follows a series of annual rises over the past 12 years.
Currently, 1.5% of the global population is forcibly displaced, nearly double the proportion from a decade ago. The UNHCR’s figures include refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced individuals, and others needing international protection.
The agency noted that this total has continued to rise in the first four months of this year and is already likely to have surpassed 120 million, more than twice the population of Italy.
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, stated, “Behind these stark and rising numbers lie countless human tragedies. That suffering must galvanize the international community to act urgently to address the root causes of forced displacement.”
The UNHCR also reported that one-fifth of those forcibly displaced are in some of the world’s poorest countries, such as Chad and Sudan. Meanwhile, the United States received the largest number of new asylum applications, totaling 1.2 million.
Germany followed with 329,000 applications, a topic that has significantly influenced political debates and contributed to the strong performance of the far right in recent European elections.
The report highlighted that children are disproportionately affected, with minors making up 40% of all forcibly displaced individuals, despite representing only 30% of the global population.
Throughout the year, the global refugee population grew by 7% to reach 43.4 million. This increase was driven by conflicts in Gaza, which includes 6 million Palestinian refugees, and in Sudan, where 10.8 million people were displaced by the end of the previous year, with that number increasing daily.