Over 40 million considered 'internally displaced'

Over 40 million considered 'internally displaced'
The number of 'internally displaced' people has rocketed to 40.8 million due to last year's conflicts, a report reveals, with more than four million uprooted from Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
2 min read
11 May, 2016
Conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq forced the figure to rocket to 40.8 million [Getty]
A record 40.8 million people are now considered internally displaced, as last year's numerous conflicts forced millions out of their homes, a refugee report has revealed.

"This is the highest figure ever recorded and twice the number of refugees worldwide," said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), co-authors of the report with the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

"Displacement... has snowballed since the Arab Spring uprising in 2010 and the rise of the Islamic State group," said the report, with Yemen, Syria and Iraq accounting for more than half of the total.

More than 4.8 million of those displaced in 2015 were uprooted from their homes in Yemen, Syria and Iraq – all of which have suffered political instability, military action and a deepening security crisis throughout 2015.

The report suggests 2.2 million of those made to flee were from Yemen - the highest in the region.

Syria followed shortly after with 1.3 million internal refugees while 1.1 million Iraqis escaped violence and instability in the same year.

"While richer, stable countries have been scheming to keep asylum seekers out of their borders and deny them protection, millions remain trapped in their own countries with death ... just around the corner," Carsten Hansen, the group's Middle East director said.

Figures show 6,427 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition war on Yemen's Houthis that began in March last year.

The war forced thousands of Yemenis to relocate to other parts of the country, with some seeking refuge in makeshift camps across the Gulf of Aden in Djibouti.

Meanwhile, a five-year-long Syrian conflict has killed more than 270,000 and forced millions more to flee towards Europe - creating the world's worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.

Similarly, years of increasing violence has rocked Iraq with thousands killed due to suicide attacks conducted by the Islamic State group and other militants, forcing Iraqis to move out of their homes in search for safety both within and out of the borders.