UN: Nearly 80 million people displaced worldwide

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of refugees worldwide has doubled in the past ten years. War, terrorism and economic collapse are the main causes of human displacement. Germany is the fifth largest refugee-hosting country.

Nearly 80 million people around the world have been forced to leave their homes due to war and intense conflict, fear of terror and violence, as well as economic collapse and poverty.

According to a new report released on Thursday, June 18, by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of refugees in the world reached 79.5 million in 2019. This is the highest number of refugees in the world to date and constitutes about one percent of the world's population.

According to a report by the United Nations agency, the number of refugees in the world has increased by about 9 million compared to 2018. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been researching and studying the number of refugees and displaced people around the world for 70 years now.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has cited the civil war in Syria and the economic and political chaos in Venezuela as the biggest drivers of the global refugee crisis last year. Refugees and internally displaced people are those who have been forced to flee their homelands due to war or persecution within their own borders.

According to the report, by the end of last year, about 29.5 million people around the world had fled to another country and 45.7 million were displaced within their own countries. The number of internally displaced people has also increased by about four and a half million.

The number of asylum seekers whose status has not yet been decided has also increased by more than 4 million people compared to a year earlier (about 20 percent compared to 2018).

Doubling of the number of refugees in ten years

The number of refugees in the world was announced by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2010 at around 40 million. This number has now doubled. According to the organization, the main reason for the significant increase in the number of refugees is internal conflicts, especially the wars in Syria, South Sudan and Yemen.

“We are witnessing a different reality, one that is no longer a short-term, temporary phenomenon,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, regarding the increase in the number of refugees over the past 10 years. According to him, refugees have been living in camps for years without hope of returning and without a clear future.

"We need a fundamental, positive and new approach to dealing with refugees, and we need to tackle more decisively the causes of their immense suffering," Grandi said.

More than two-thirds of the refugees who have fled their homes to other countries are from five countries. Among these refugees are about 6.5 million from Syria, 3.7 million from Venezuela, 2.7 million from Afghanistan, 2.2 million from South Sudan and more than 1 million from Myanmar.

The world's largest refugee population lives in Turkey (over three and a half million), followed by Colombia (nearly two million), Pakistan and Uganda (around one and a half million).

 Refugees in Europe and Germany

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Europe hosts less than 10 percent of the world's refugees. Given the increase in the number of refugees in the world and including the number of internally displaced persons, this figure has decreased by about 24.3 percent overall.

Germany remains the fifth-largest refugee-hosting country. Around 1.15 million people are registered as asylum seekers in the country. This is around 83,000 more than last year. This mainly concerns people who have been to Germany before and whose cases have recently been processed.

Accordingly, the number of refugees in Germany decreased by about 60,000 last year, reaching 309,000.

Source: DW