Number of refugees, displaced persons worldwide exceeds 120 million

Nearly three quarters of refugees worldwide come from one of the five countries – Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine and Sudan

The number of refugees and displaced persons reached 117.3 million people in late 2023, and, according to estimates, exceeded 120 million people by the end of April 2024, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in its annual Global Trends report.

“At the end of 2023, an estimated 117.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing the public order,” the UN body said. “The increase to 117.3 at the end of 2023 constitutes a rise of 8 per cent or 8.8 million people compared to the end of 2022.”

Based on “operational data,” UNHCR estimates that forced displacement has continued to increase in the first four months of 2024 and by the end of April 2024 “is likely to have exceeded 120 million.”

The report says that 43.4 million out of the 117.3 million are refugees, 68.3 million are internally displaced persons (IDPs), while the rest fall under other categories.

“Forced displacement is a consequence of the failure to uphold peace and security,” the UNHCR said.

In 2023, at least 27.2 million people were forced to flee their homes, and every fourth of them had to flee their home country.

Nearly three quarters of refugees worldwide come from one of the five countries – Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine and Sudan. In late 2023, the number of refugees from Ukraine stood at 6 million, up five percent since 2022. Around 2.6 million people, or 44% of Ukrainian refugees, have found shelter in neighboring countries.

Around 6.1 million people returned to their homes last year.