Conflict-driven internal displacements reached 'record high' of 75.9M in 2023: Report

GENEVA

The number of individuals residing in situations of internal displacement has increased significantly over the past five years, reaching "a record high" of 75.9 million individuals in 116 countries by the end of 2023, according to an Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) report released on Tuesday.

Globally, 68.3 million of the total were displaced by conflict and violence, while 7.7 million by disasters, the report found.

In 2023 alone, conflict and violence triggered 20.5 million displacements, it said, adding that Sudan accounted for almost 30% with 6 million displacements, while Gaza accounted for 17% with 3.4 million, the "highest figure since data became available in 2008."

They are followed by Burkina Faso's 707,000 displacements, which was "the highest figure since the escalation of conflict in 2019," according to the report.

"The millions of people forced to flee in 2023 were just the 'tip of the iceberg', adding to the tens of millions of IDPs already displaced from previous and ongoing conflicts, violence, and disasters," Alexandra Bilak, the director of IDMC, said.

Although the figure for the year 2023 was showing 28% fewer conflict displacements compared to 2022, the report said it is mostly due to fewer movements in Ukraine.

"Still, global figures were 70% higher than the annual average of the past decade," it added.

In total, there were 46.9 million internal displacements, or movements, recorded during 2023, across 151 countries and territories.

Disasters continue to displace millions of people as cyclone Freddy in south-eastern Africa, earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, and cyclone Mocha in the Indian Ocean led to 26.4 million movements in 2023, accounting for 56% of the total new internal displacements.

"As the planet grapples with conflicts and disasters, the staggering numbers of 47 million new internal displacements tells a harrowing tale," Ugochi Daniels, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) deputy director general, said in a statement.

"This report is a stark reminder of the urgent and coordinated need to expand disaster risk reduction, support peacebuilding, ensure the protection of human rights and whenever possible, prevent the displacement before it happens," she added.