Chennai

The estimated figure includes 20.2 million refugees fleeing wars and persecution, the most since 1992, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a report. Nearly 2.5 million asylum seekers have requests pending, with Germany, Russia and the United States receiving the highest numbers of the nearly one million new claims lodged in the first half of the year, it said. 

Only 84,000 people voluntarily returned home by mid-year against 107,000 at the same time a year before, the UNHCR said. World Record “2015 is on track to see worldwide forced displacement exceeding 60 million for the first time — 1 in every 122 humans is today someone who has been forced to flee their homes,” it said. 

The total figure at the end of 2014 was 59.5 million. An estimated 34 million people were internally displaced as of mid-year, about 2 million more than the same time in 2014. Yemen, where civil war erupted in March, reported the highest number of newly uprooted people at 933,500.

Refugee Report Card

• One out of 122 persons forced to flee home this year
• Refugees in 2015 : Over 60 million.
• Refugees in 2014 : 59.5 million
• Highest, newly uprooted: 933,500, from Yemen

Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!

Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!

Click here for iOS

Click here for Android