Conflict and persecution drove up the number of globally displaced persons up to a record 65.5 million last year, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported on Monday.
The figures, which are released annually ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, showed that more than 10 million of the world’s displaced people were uprooted from their homes in the past year alone. Some 3.5 million displaced persons crossed international borders for the first time to become refugees. “This equates to one person becoming displaced every three seconds – less than the time it takes to read this sentence,” the UNHCR said in a statement.
This is “the highest figure since we started recording them,” UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi told reporters, pointing out that it was larger than the population of Britain.
Syria and Afghanistan remain the biggest sources of refugees, with 5.5 million and 2.5 million nationals from the two countries displaced respectively. The crises in the Middle East have garnered the most global attention, namely because the masses of people who have fled the region in past years have tried to seek refuge in Europe.
Flow of refugees slowing
Despite the number of global displaced persons reaching a record high, the UNHCR’s count showed that the flow of refugees last year slowed for the first time in years.
In 2016, just over 10 million people fled abroad or became internally displaced within their country, compared to 12.4 million people the year before.