A record 60 million people – and possibly mainly more – have been forcibly displaced around the world this year, the United Nations said on Friday. Among them, more than 20 million have been made to leave their homes because of war and persecution, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a report. At the end of 2014, the total figure was 59.5 million, Reuters reported. The wars in Syria and Yemen are the chief contributors to this figure, among other conflicts in different parts of the world.
"2015 is on track to see worldwide forced displacement exceeding 60 million for the first time, 1 in every 122 humans is today someone who has been forced to flee their homes," the report said. "Never has there been a greater need for tolerance, compassion and solidarity with people who have lost everything," said Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The report warned of the “growing resentment” against refugees and added that nearly 2.5 million asylum seekers have requests pending in various countries, especially Russia, Germany and the United States.
More than 7.6 million people have been uprooted from Syria, while more than 900,000 were forced to leave because of the conflict in Yemen this year. Violence in Afghanistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq also sparked large refugee movements.
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