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UN record: 70.8 million people forcibly displaced in 2018

The world’s population of forcibly displaced people surged by two million in 2018 to reach new record, UN figures show.

Rohingya refugees [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Refugees originating from Myanmar represented the fourth largest population group by country. By the end of 2018, Myanmar's displaced, including hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, stood at 1.1 million. [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Published On 19 Jun 2019

The UN high commissioner for refugees’ (UNHCR) yearly Global Trends report found that 70.8 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2018 – the highest number in the organisation’s almost 70-year history.

It was an increase of more than two million from the previous year and an overall total that would amount to the world’s 20th most populous country.

Almost two-thirds of those uprooted from their homes were internally displaced people who have not left their homelands, the UNHCR said.

Launching the report in Berlin on Wednesday, the high commissioner, Filippo Grandi, said the new figures are “worrying”.

Of the 25.9 million refugees, nearly 20 percent were Palestinians under the care of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

About 13.6 million people were newly displaced in 2018 – including 2.8 million who sought protection abroad and 10.8 million who were left in their own countries, according to the UNHCR.

A Cameroonian United Nations peacekeeping soldier guards women fleeing the village of Zike as they arrive to the village of Bambara, Central African Republic, April 25, 2017. Picture taken April 25, 2
A Cameroonian peacekeeper guards women fleeing the Central African Republic village of Zike. People from CAR represented the eighth largest refugee population as violence continued to force them to flee. [Baz Ratner/Reuters]
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Internally displaced Congolese wait inside an IDP camp on March 2, 2018 in Bunia.
Displaced people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo wait inside an IDP camp for the distribution of clothes. [John Wessels/AFP]
IDP Camp in Kabul [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Children roam a camp for the internally displaced in Kabul, Afghanistan. At the end of 2018, there were 2.1 million internally displaced persons living in the camps. [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Arsal Photo gallery [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
The family relocated to their current tent after losing the last one to a fire caused by overheating in 2016. [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
in this photo taken Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019 residents of the Mangateen camp for the internally-displaced line up to get water from a borehole, on the outskirts of the capital Juba, South Sudan. Tens of
Residents of the Mangateen camp for the internally displaced line up to collect water on the outskirts of South Sudan's capital, Juba. About 1.9 million IDPs were in the country last year. [Sam Mednick/AP Photo]
In this Saturday Jan. 27, 2018 photo, 329 refugees and migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Bangladesh, wait to be rescued by aid workers after leaving Libya trying to reach European soil aboard an overc
Refugees and migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Bangladesh, wait to be rescued after leaving Libya in an attempt to reach European soil aboard an overcrowded wooden boat. [Santi Palacios/AP Photo]
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In this Aug. 31, 2018 file photo, Venezuelan migrants line up for free bread and coffee, donated by a Colombian family from their car, at a gas station in Pamplona, Colombia. A record 71 million peopl
Venezuelan migrants line up for free bread and coffee at a petrol station in Pamplona, Colombia. At the end of 2018, more than three million Venezuelans had left their homes. [Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo]