(VOVWORLD) - The UN said on Thursday that a record-breaking 120 million people were living in a forcibly displaced status globally between the beginning of 2023 through to May 2024.
The new data was revealed in the Global Trends report by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) which outlines statistics tracking the number of refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people around the world.
"An estimated 117.3 million people remained forcibly displaced at the end of 2023, having been forced to flee persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order," the report stated.
In May, 120 million people were displaced globally, nearly 10% more than the figures from 2022, representing around 1.5% of the world's population, the UNHCR said. "Conflict remains a very, very big driver of mass displacement," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told reporters.
"Unless there is a shift in international geopolitics, unfortunately, I actually see the figure continuing to go up," he added.