The United Nations announced on Friday that the number of displaced persons due to wars and crises worldwide has doubled in the last ten years, reaching a record 82.4 million, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. For the ninth consecutive year, there was an increase in forced displacement recorded in 2020. Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, stated during a presentation of annual trends, “82.4 million... the ninth year of continuous increase. This is exactly double the number recorded ten years ago.”
The official report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees published on Friday noted that the number of refugees, internally displaced persons, and asylum seekers increased by 4% in 2020 compared to a record high of 79.5 million at the end of 2019. Grandi told AFP that during the pandemic, “everything came to a halt, including the economy, but wars, conflicts, violence, discrimination, and persecution—all factors driving people to flee—continued.”
By the end of 2020, the world contained 30.3 million refugees and forcibly displaced persons, including 5.7 million Palestinian refugees and 3.9 million Venezuelans. Additionally, 4.1 million individuals applied for asylum.
