Global crisis: 27.8 million people were forced to flee their homes last year
A major aid agency said Wednesday that 27.8 million people around the world were internally displaced by conflicts and natural disasters last year, calling it a global crisis.
That's as many as the populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo combined — or an average of 66,000 people displaced every day in 2015.
You May Also Like
A report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said that 8.6 million of last year's internally displaced were uprooted by conflict, more than half of them in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
The U.N. defines internally displaced persons as those who have been forced to flee or leave their homes due to "the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border."
"Millions remain trapped in their own countries with death ... just around the corner."
The NRC report said Yemen alone accounted for one-quarter of conflict-related displacement worldwide last year, with 2.2 million people uprooted -- 20 times more than in 2014. The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country is gripped by a war pitting Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies against forces loyal to the internationally backed government. A Saudi-led coalition is aiding the government, with its airstrikes' campaign targeting the rebels.
Yemen was followed by Syria with 1.3 million displaced, and Iraq with 1.1 million, the report said.
The NRC's Middle East director, Carsten Hansen, said that while the world's attention was focused on Middle Eastern refugees, or those who fled their homelands, millions were displaced internally in the region.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
"This is the highest number ever recorded."
"While richer, stable countries have been scheming to keep asylum seekers out of their borders and deny them protection, millions remain trapped in their own countries with death ... just around the corner," he said.
The total number of those internally displaced specifically by conflict in the world now stands at 40.8 million, including the newly displaced 8.6 million last year.
"This is the highest number ever recorded, and twice the number of refugees worldwide," said Jan Egeland, the head of the NRC.
Additional reporting by Mashable.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Topics Social Good
