Number of global refugees hits record 65.3m, says UN

The number of refugees and internally displaced people worldwide has rise to a record 65.3 million, the UN refugee agency revealed today.

The previous year had already seen the highest number of refugees worldwide since the Second World War, with 60 million displaced people, but last year — when Europe saw the arrival of large numbers of migrants — topped that record by nearly 10 per cent, UNHCR said in its annual Global Trends Report. The Geneva-based agency urged leaders from Europe and elsewhere to do more to end the wars that are driving the exodus of people from their homelands.

“I hope that the message carried by those forcibly displaced reaches the leaderships: we need action, political action, to stop conflicts,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

“The message they have carried is, ‘If you don’t solve problems, problems will come to you’.”

UNHCR said on average 24 people were displaced every minute of every day last year — 34,000 people a day — from six a minute in 2005.

Global displacement has roughly doubled since 1997, and risen by 50 per cent since 2011 when the Syria war began.

More than half of refugees came from three countries; Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Turkey was the top “host” country for the second year running, taking in 2.5 million people — nearly all from neighbouring Syria. Afghan neighbour Pakistan had 1.6 million, while Lebanon, next to Syria, hosted 1.1 million.