Refugees and displaced persons

In 2015, the world again witnessed record levels of forced displacement, with 65.3 million people uprooted by war, conflict, persecution or human rights abuses by year’s end, 12.4 million of whom were newly displaced. The war in the Syrian Arab Republic was again the single largest driver of displacement in 2015, with more than 4 million Syrians living in exile in neighbouring countries and 6.5 million people internally displaced by the end of the year. The year 2015 also saw the global refugee crisis reaching Europe. More than 1 million refugees and migrants from refugee-producing countries, including Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Somalia, arrived on the southern European shores. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (unhcr) launched its biggest humanitarian operation in Europe since the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. During the year, unhcr declared 11 emergency situations affecting operations in 30 countries and deployed 460 emergency missions, assisted 12.3 million refugees and 37.4 million internally displaced persons, and helped 49,100 stateless people acquire nationality and 115,800 returned refugees to reintegrate.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions