UN: Number of forcibly displaced to surpass record 60 million this year

PanARMENIAN.Net - The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide will "far surpass" a record 60 million this year, the UN says, according to BBC News.

The report by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said "one in every 122 humans is today someone who has been forced to flee their homes."

The figure includes 20.2 million refugees, the highest total since 1992, the UNHCR added.

The numbers were mainly driven by the Syrian war, conflict in Ukraine and other protracted conflicts, it said. The report is based on figures from the first half of 2015.

Violence in Afghanistan, Somalia and South Sudan also sparked large refugee movements, as well as fighting in Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq.

Asylum applications had risen 78% over the same period in 2014, while the numbers of internally displaced people reached an estimated 34 million.

The number of refugees rose by 839,000 in the first six months of 2015 - or almost 4,600 people on average every day. "Forced displacement is now profoundly affecting our times," UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

"Never has there been a greater need for tolerance, compassion and solidarity with people who have lost everything."

Developing countries bordering conflict zones still host the biggest share of the refugees, the report said.