Close to 120 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced in 2023, the 12th year in a row that figure has risen, according to the latest figures from the United Nations' refugees agency.
It means one in 69 people on the planet have been forced from their homes, either displaced to other parts of their own country, or across an international border. Just a decade ago, that comparable ratio was Just one in 125, meaning the proportion of the global population has almost doubled.
There are multiple factors driving these annual increases, Kelly Clements, the deputy high commissioner for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
"We've got wars and conflicts that wage on without a solution in Afghanistan, Syria, now Ukraine, Venezuela, Myanmar — those are the protracted situations. And then we have new crises and new wars," says Clements.
The conflict in Gaza, which exploded into the world's consciousness with the October 7 Hamas-led attack in Israel and the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, has displaced almost two million Palestinians according, to the UN agency that aids Palestinians, UNRWA.
War has been waging in Sudan for more than a year with more than 10 million people forced from their homes, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration.
With close to 120 million people with no one to rest their head, how many people have come to our shores looking for protection?
The UK is an underlier when it comes to accepting refugees and asylum seekers, whereas Germany has taken more than its fair share.
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