Climate disasters and wars add to more than 71-million people displaced

Geneva — The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) reached a record 71.1-million worldwide in 2022 due to conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and climate calamities like the monsoon floods in Pakistan, according to data published on Thursday.

The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) said that figure represented a 20% increase since 2021, with an unprecedented number of people fleeing in search of safety and shelter.

IDMC said that nearly three-quarters of the world's displaced people live in 10 countries, including Syria, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ukraine and Sudan, due to conflicts that prompted significant displacement in 2022.

The war in Ukraine triggered nearly 17-million displacements in 2022, according to IDMC.

“Conflict and violence triggered 28.3-million internal displacements worldwide, a figure three times higher than the annual average over the past decade,” it said.

The bulk of the displacement of people in 2022 — 32.6-million — was due to disasters including floods, droughts and landslides.

“Conflict and disasters combined last year to aggravate people's pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities, triggering displacement on a scale never seen before,” said Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which set up IDMC in 1998.

“The war in Ukraine also fuelled a global food security crisis that hit the internally displaced hardest. This perfect storm has undermined years of progress made in reducing global hunger and malnutrition.”

Reuters