Forced displacement hits new record of 110 million globally

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling for concerted action as forced displacements hit a new record of nearly 110 million.

According to UNHCR’s annual report, Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2022, by the end of 2022, the number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights abuses, reached a record 108.4 million.

This, increase of 19.1 million since the previous year, marks the greatest-ever increase.

In a statement, the UN Refugee Agency asserts that the upward trajectory in global forced displacement showed no sign of slowing in 2023, especially as the eruption of conflict in Sudan triggered new outflows.

Urgency for collective action

UNHCR highlights that the war in Ukraine, conflict elsewhere, and climate-provoked upheaval, meant more people than ever remained uprooted from their homes last year, "heightening the urgency for immediate, collective action to alleviate the causes and impact of displacement."

Of the global total, 35.3 million are refugees -people who crossed an international border to find safety - while a greater portion, of 58 per cent, representing 62.5 million people, were displaced in their home countries because of conflict and violence.

War in Ukraine top driver

The war in Ukraine was the top driver of displacement in 2022, as the number of refugees from Ukraine soared from 27,300, at the end of 2021 to 5.7 million at the end of 2022, representing the fastest outflow of refugees anywhere since World War II.

By the end of 2022, estimates for the number of refugees from Afghanistan increased significantly, given revised estimates of Afghans hosted in Iran, many having arrived in prior years.

The report likewise reflected upward revisions of the number of Venezuelan refugees, by Colombia and Peru, categorized mostly as “other people in need of international protection,” hosted in those countries.

Low, middle income countries host most displaced

The report's figures confirm that the world’s low and middle-income countries, not wealthy states, host the most displaced people.

The 46 least-developed countries account for less than 1.3 percent of global Gross Domestic Product, UNHCR asserts, yet, it notes, they hosted more than 20 percent of all refugees. 

Funding for the numerous displacement situations and to support hosts lagged behind needs last year, remaining sluggish in 2023 as requirements increase.

Possibility, desire to return home

Despite the total figure of displaced continuing to grow, the Global Trends report observes that those forced to flee are not condemned to exile, but can, and do, return home, voluntarily and safely.

For example, in 2022, over 339,000 refugees returned to 38 countries, and though this figure was lower than the previous year there were significant voluntary returns to South Sudan, Syria, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire.

Also, the UNHCR report illustrates, some 5.7 million internally displaced people returned in 2022, notably within Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.