A record 33.3 million people were internally displaced by conflict and violence in their home countries in 2013, according to a new report the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) released on Wednesday. The figure is an astounding increase of 4.5 million from the previous year.
As a result of more recent crises, a total number of 8.2 million people were newly displaced in 2013 -- 43% of which were in Syria alone. The three countries with the most displaced people -- Syria, the Central African of Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- made up 67% of newly internally displaced people in the world.
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Internally displaced people, or IDPs, are considered to be among the world's most vulnerable people, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) notes. They are not refugees -- they haven't crossed international borders to find sanctuary, but they may have fled their homes for reasons similar to refugees, such as armed conflict, generalized violence, human rights violations, or natural or human-made disasters.
They remain under the protection of their governments, even if the government is what caused them to flee.
The following chart, created by Statista, breaks down the 10 countries with the highest number of newly internally displaced people in 2013.
