Record-breaking 110 million people now displaced worldwide, most refugees hosted in poorer countries
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced in its Global Trends Report for 2022 that a record-breaking 110 million people around the world have now been displaced because of wars, persecution, or human rights violations, the Associated Press reports. The UNHCR report was published Wednesday.
While most displaced persons have sought to remain in their own countries, 35 million refugees were forced to flee to other countries: the majority of these are being hosted in low to middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, not in the US or in rich European states, the UNHCR report attested.
The UNHCR noted that the new war in Sudan has already displaced nearly 2 million people since April alone, AP reports. Last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine forced 19 million people from their homes, in what was the fastest and largest displacement of people since World War II, the UNHCR report further noted.
Meanwhile, chronic conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Myanmar displaced more than 1 million people each last year.
“It’s quite an indictment on the state of our world,” Filippo Grandi, head of the UNHCR told reporters Wednesday. “We are constantly confronted with emergencies. Very few make your headlines,” Grandi added.