There are more displaced people now than at any other time in all of recorded history

A refugee camp for people displaced by the Boko Haram attacks. — (Image credit: ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)

In the entirety of recorded human history, there have never been more people displaced from their homes than there are today, the United Nations reported Monday. The record levels of displacement are due to widespread global conflict, including in locations across the Middle East, in Central America, and parts of Africa.

The U.N. report found that the total number of people forcibly displaced due to war or persecution exceeds the population of Britain at around 65.3 million, The New York Times reports. While most of those people are displaced within the borders of their own country, an unparalleled number are seeking political asylum in the West, even as hostilities against refugees reach a boiling point stateside.

Still, many refugees live in low- or middle-income countries, such as Ethiopia or Turkey, and currently about half of all refugee children do not attend school, often because a host nation's capacities are already stretched to the limit. Things are no better for refugees in Europe, either. The United Nations high commissioner for refugees said Sunday that the "climate of xenophobia … is very worrying in today's Europe."

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Only 200,000 people out of millions were able to return to their home country in the past year, or otherwise find a permanent home abroad.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.