Geneva, May 11, (dpa/GNA) – Conflicts, hunger and climate change led to a record number of internally displaced people in 2022, according to a report released by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in Geneva on Thursday.
The number of people displaced in their homeland jumped to 71.1 million last year. That is a 20% increase since 2021. More people than ever had to flee within a 12 month period, 60.9 million people. Many were displaced more than once.
In Ukraine alone, close to 5.9 million people were displaced internally because of the Russian offensive last year. Several million people also fled abroad from Ukraine.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), around 5 million people received protection in Europe. However, the IDMC report deals exclusively with displaced people who remained in the country where they previously lived.
Around 28.3 million people were displaced by conflict and violence in their own country in 2022, almost twice as many as in the previous year.
Some 32.6 million people had to leave their homes due to natural and climate disasters, 40% more than in 2022. This was triggered by natural disasters such as droughts and floods.
The reports named ten countries that deal with severe internal displacement problems: Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Colombia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.
GNA