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.

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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.

Photo source: unhcr.org
Source: unhcr.org

“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

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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

Photo source: unhcr.org
Source: unhcr.org

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

Photo source: unhcr.org
Source: unhcr.org

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

Photo source: i.ytimg.com
Source: i.ytimg.com

Turkey hosted 2.5 million refugees followed by Pakistan which hosted 1.6 million and Lebanon 1.1 million.

Only 201,400 refugees returned to their countries of origin in 2015