UN reports refugee numbers hit record high in 2019

The number of people fleeing war and persecution rose to a record 79.5 million in 2019, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday.

That figure represents “approximately 1% of the world population,” said agency chief Filippo Grandi.

The UN’s refugee agency published its annual report, revealing that:

• The number of refugees rose by 9 million from the previous year
• Syrians, Venezuelans, Afghans, South Sudanese, and stateless Rohingya are worst-affected
• Some 73% of refugees seek asylum in a neighboring country
• Fewer than 400,000 refugees returned home over the past decade, down from an average of 1.5 million in the 1990s.

The number of displaced people worldwide was around 40 million ten years ago, Grandi said.

“So it has basically doubled. And we don’t see this trend diminishing,” he added.

Nearly 46 million people were displaced within their own country at the end of 2019, while 26 million others had fled across the borders as refugees.

Some 4.2 million were asylum seekers. Another 3.6 million Venezuelans displaced abroad were counted separately.

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