UN: The number of displaced people worldwide has hit a record high of 117 million

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said forcibly displaced people reached a record 117.3 million at the end of last year, and warned that number could rise if there is no major change in global politics.

"They are refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, people forced from their homes by conflict, persecution and all kinds of increasingly complex forms of violence," High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Thursday. "Conflict is still a very, very deep factor in the displacement of people," he said.

A UNHCR report on global trends in forced displacement says the number of displaced people has increased each year for the past 12 years, Reuters reported. In the first four months of 2024, the number of displaced persons has continued to increase, and by the end of April, the number may have passed 120 million.

The High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, on 7 February launched a fundraising campaign for Sudan 2024 at the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Reuters)

"Unless there is a change in international geopolitics, that number will continue to rise," Grandi said of the risk of new conflicts.

Conflicts that have led to displacement include the war in Sudan, which has received less attention than other crises, and which Grandi describes as "one of the most catastrophic wars." He said more than 9 million people have been internally displaced by the fighting and another 2 million have fled to neighboring countries such as Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli bombing and ground operations have resulted in the internal displacement of some 1.7 million people, nearly 80 per cent of the Palestinian population, many of whom have been displaced multiple times.

Warning that Gazans could cross into Egypt from the southern border town of Rafah to escape the fighting, Mr Grandi said: "Another refugee crisis outside Gaza would be catastrophic on every level because we have no guarantee that people will one day be able to return to Gaza."