At the end of 2024, a record number of people, 123.2 million, were refugees according to the UN's refugee agency UNHCR. That number has now decreased somewhat to 122.1 million, partly because it is estimated that 1.5 million Syrians have been able to return to their homeland.
But UNHCR warns that the large conflicts in the world can lead to the number rising again. The number of people fleeing war, violence and persecution in the world is "untenable high", writes UNHCR, especially in a time when funding for humanitarian efforts is decreasing.
We live in a time of intense volatility in international relations, where modern warfare creates a fragile, frightening landscape marked by acute human suffering, says UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who also calls for peace.
The main reasons why people are forced to flee are large conflicts, including in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine.
The record number of 123.2 million at the end of 2024 was almost seven million more than ten years earlier.
