In 2015, there were 65.3 million displaced people, the highest since the UNHCR began tracking refugees, according to the UN Refugee Agency report, Global Trends, which was released Monday.
The report highlights the scale of the refugee crisis in 2015 alone, as civilians from various countries including, but not limited to, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Yemen have been forced to flee their war-torn countries.
On average, 24 people were forced to flee every minute in 2015.
This number is four times more than a decade earlier, when six people fled every 60 seconds.
The number of displaced people hit 65.3 million in 2015 compared with the 59.5 million the previous year.
“More people are being displaced by war and persecution and that’s worrying in itself, but the factors that endanger refugees are multiplying too,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.
Since the office of the UNHCR was established in 1950, global displacement numbers have never crossed the 60 million threshold
If the displaced population were a nation, they would make up the 21st largest in the world
“We are facing the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time. Above all, this is not just a crisis of numbers; it is also a crisis of solidarity,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said .
Of the displaced persons, 21.3 million were refugees
40.8 million were internally displaced and 3.2 million were asylum seekers.
Roughly 51 percent of the refugees are children below the age of 18
Up from 41 percent in 2009.
Three countries make up half the world's refugees under UNHCR's mandate worldwide: Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. Palestinian refugees are not included in UNHCR's mandate, as they are served by UNRWA.
Syria's refugee numbers stand at 4.9 million, Afghanistan at 2.7 million and Somalia at 1.1 million.
For the second consecutive year, Turkey hosted the largest number of refugees worldwide
Turkey hosted 2.5 million refugees followed by Pakistan which hosted 1.6 million and Lebanon 1.1 million.