Number of internally displaced people hit record in 2022

The number of internally displaced people (IDP) worldwide reached a record high of 71.1 million by the end of 2022 — 20% higher than in 2021, according to an international report.

An overlap of geopolitical crisis, internal power struggles and environmental disasters led to conditions that not only spurred displacements but also affected the vulnerable the most, the 76-page report by Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IMDC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said.

A record 60.9 million new displacements were registered in 2022 amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and the monsoon floods that ravaged Pakistan. That's a 60% increase compared to 38 million displacements seen in 2021.

That number is "extremely high," IDMC chief Alexandra Bilak told the AFP news agency.

"Much of the increase is caused, of course, by the war in Ukraine, but also by floods in Pakistan, by new and ongoing conflicts across the world, and by a number of sudden and slow onset disasters that we've seen from the Americas all the way to the Pacific," she said.

Ten countries — Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Colombia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan — are home to nearly three-quarters of those who live in displacement. Several of them remained displaced because of unresolved conflicts.

There were 17 million displacements inside Ukraine, 8 million in Pakistan and 16.5 million in sub-Saharan Africa, with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia seeing the most displacement on the African continent. 

Global conflicts spur numbers

Conflicts resulted in the internal displacement of 28.3 million in 2022. The figure has nearly doubled during the year and is three times higher than the annual average over the past decade.

The number of people living in displacement is only expected to increase as fresh conflicts like the power struggle in Sudan force people to flee from their homes. According to UN data, over 700,000 people have already become internally displaced by the power struggle that erupted on April 15, while another 150,000 people fled the country.

"Clearly, it's a very volatile situation on the ground," Bilak said, adding that those being newly displaced in Sudan were joining the ranks of more than three million people already displaced across the nation. The organization has already recorded the same number of displacements in Sudan since April as they did for the whole of 2022, she said.

Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Somalia contributed most to the new displacements in 2022.

Disaster-led displacements

Despite the rise in conflicts, natural disasters worsened by climate change account for most of the IDPs. In 2022, there were 32.6 million movements, 40% higher than in 2021.

Pakistan, the Philippines, China, India and Nigeria topped the list of countries that saw new displacements due to disasters.

NRC chief Jan Egeland described the overlapping crises spurring ever more displacement around the world.

"Conflict and disasters combined last year to aggravate people's pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities, triggering displacement on a scale never seen before," he said in a statement. "This perfect storm has undermined years of progress made in reducing global hunger and malnutrition." 

mk/sms (Reuters, AFP)