Refugees: 42,500 leave their homes every day

“We are witnessing a paradigm change, an unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before,” said António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees today, as he explained the 2014 report.

Last year was the worst so far: 59.5 million people were displaced by war, violence or persection worldwide.

It the highest ever recorded by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) since it was established in 1950, represents a 16 per cent rise compared to 2013.

The figure is almost the same as Italy’s population.

Translated into more understandable figures, this means that 42,500 left their homes every day.

The ongoing bloodshed in Syria is the biggest driver of displacement with 3.8 million Syrians fleeing the countrysince the conflict first erupted in 2011.

People discplaced worldwide, in 2014. / UN

TURKEY, PAKISTAN, LEBANNON, OVERWHELMED

Last year, Turkey became the world’s largest refugee-hosting country, welcoming 1.59 million people who have fled there; at least one million of them came from Syria.

The civil war in Syria brought the number of internally displaced people inside the country to 7.6 million by the end of 2014.

Pakistan and Lebanon are also receiving refugees in thousands, which is starting to cause major social and political problems for these countries, which are not prepared to look after thousands of people in need every day.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES HOST 86% OF REFUGEES

The report also says that developing countries are “shouldering the responsibility” of receiving refugees globally, saying that developing countries currently host 86 percent of the world’s refugee population, or 12.4 million people.

Two decades ago, wealthy countries hosted 30 percent of refugees, and developing countries 70 percent.