122 million forcibly displaced worldwide ‘untenably high’: UN

GENEVA: The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record peak but remains “untenably high”, the United Nations said on 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. But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by the end of April this year, as Syrians began returning home after years of turmoil.

More than 1.5 million Syrians have been able to return home from abroad or from displacement within the war-ravaged country. But the UNHCR warned that the course of major conflicts worldwide would determine whether the figure would rise again.

The agency said the number of people displaced by war, violence and persecution worldwide was “untenably high”, particularly in a period when humanitarian funding is evaporating. “We are living in a time of intense volatility in international relations, with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

“We must redouble our efforts to search for peace and find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes.” The main drivers of displacement remain sprawling conflicts like those in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine, UNHCR said in its flagship annual Global Trends Report. Syria´s brutal civil war erupted in 2011 but ruler Bashar al-Assad was finally overthrown in December 2024.