Today is World Refugee Day. The UNHCR says that more 50 million people are displaced around the world, the highest proportion of the world’s population since World War II.
The annual report, released on World Refugee Day by UNHCR, showed a jump of 6 million people from 2012 to 2013. The “massive increase” was attributed to the war in Syria and displacement in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. The war in Syria made 2.5 million people refugees and displaced 6.5 million within the country, according to the report.
Afghans, Syrians and Somalis accounted for more than half of total refugees. Pakistan, Iran and Lebanon hosted more refugees than other countries. The majority of the global forced displacement was internal displacement within countries — a record 33.3 million people, the largest increase of any group in the report.
