New UN figures to mark World Refugee Day have revealed the toll of violence and warfare on communities around the world.
A third of those, more than 20 million, left their country to become refugees, while the other 40 million remained within their national borders as displaced people. Turkey bore the brunt of the influx, taking in three million refugees in 2016.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Why is displacement at an all-time high?
The number of displaced people around the world has almost doubled since 1997, when 33.9 million people were forced to flee their homes.
Most of the additional influx in recent years is due to the continuing conflict in Syria. This year alone, 5.5 million people fled the war-torn country.
However, the UN Commission for Refugees said sectarian violence and famine in sub-Saharan Africa were also major factors, with South Sudan the third-largest source of refugees after Syria and Afghanistan.
Is the outlook for 2017 any better?
Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told the BBC the statistics spoke of "a disheartening failure of international diplomacy".
He added: "The world seems to have become unable to make peace."
The report "does not predict an optimistic outcome to the crisis", says Newsweek, but Grandi says commissioners hope the bleak figures will encourage governments and organisations to focus on "long-lasting solutions to crises, rather than just emergency responses".
-
Political cartoons for January 25Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a hot economy, A.I. wisdom, and more
-
Le Pen back in the dock: the trial that’s shaking FranceIn the Spotlight Appealing her four-year conviction for embezzlement, the Rassemblement National leader faces an uncertain political future, whatever the result
-
The doctors’ strikesThe Explainer Resident doctors working for NHS England are currently voting on whether to go out on strike again this year
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
