Sudan is now the world\u2019s largest forced displacement situation with 14.3 million refugees and IDPs
\n GENEVA
\nThe number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record high but remains \u201cuntenably high\u201d, the United Nations said Thursday. A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024, said UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
\nBut that figure dropped to 122.1 million by the end of April this year, as Syrians began returning home after years of turmoil. Nearly two million Syrians have been able to return home from abroad or from displacement within the war-ravaged country. But the UNHCR warned that how major conflicts worldwide played out would determine whether the figure would rise once again.
\nThe agency said the number of people displaced by war, violence and persecution worldwide was \u201cuntenably high\u201d, particularly in a period when humanitarian funding is evaporating.
\n\u201cWe are living in a time of intense volatility in international relations, with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,\u201d said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
\n\u201cWe must redouble our efforts to search for peace and find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes.
\n\u201cThe main drivers of displacement remain sprawling conflicts like those in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine, UNHCR said in its flagship annual Global Trends Report. Syria\u2019s brutal civil war erupted in 2011 but president Bashar al-Assad was finally overthrown in December 2024.
\nThe report said the first months of this year saw rising numbers of Syrians returning home. As of mid-May, more than 500,000 Syrians are estimated to have crossed back into the country since the fall of Assad, while an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced people (IDPs) have returned to their areas of origin since the end of November. UNHCR estimates that up to 1.5 million Syrians from abroad and two million IDPs may return by the end of 2025.
\nSudan is now the world\u2019s largest forced displacement situation with 14.3 million refugees and IDPs, overtaking Syria (13.5 million), which is followed by Afghanistan (10.3 million) and Ukraine (8.8 million).
\n\u201cDuring the remainder of 2025, much will depend on the dynamics in key situations,\u201d the annual report said.
\n\u201cThis includes whether peace, or at least a cessation in fighting, is possible to achieve, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Ukraine.\u201d It also depends on whether conditions for returns improve in Afghanistan and Syria.
\nAnother factor was \u201chow dire the impact of the current funding cuts will be\u201d on responding to displacement and creating conditions for safe and dignified returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sudan is now the world\u2019s largest forced displacement situation with 14.3 million refugees and IDPs GENEVA The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record high but remains \u201cuntenably high\u201d, the United Nations said Thursday. A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-483902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n