Violence and conflicts lead to the largest number of refugees in the world

(Patria) - Due to the escalation of wars and violence in the world, as well as increasingly frequent natural disasters, more than 120 million people by May this year have fled or were forced to leave their country.

Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of eight percent and the largest number since the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began keeping records, reports BBC.

Children make up 40 percent of all forcibly displaced people, meaning that every minute at least 20 people have to leave everything behind to escape conflict, persecution, or violence.

These UNHCR figures were released ahead of World Refugee Day, which is celebrated on June 20. It was established by the UN to "honor the strength and courage of refugees around the world".

- Behind these grim, growing numbers lie many human tragedies. This suffering must spur the international community to take urgent action to address the root causes of forced displacement - said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

In 2023, almost three out of four refugees (73 percent) were from only five countries - Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Sudan, according to the UNHCR report.

Syria, where the civil war has been ongoing for the past 12 years, remains the largest hotspot in terms of displacement - 13.8 million people were forcibly internally displaced or fled the country by the end of 2023.

The event that contributed the most to the increase in the number of refugees globally is the civil war in Sudan, which caused nearly 11 million Sudanese to leave their homes by the end of 2023.

Last year, more than 6.4 million people fled Afghanistan in search of a better life after the Taliban took power in 2021.

More than six million people have left Venezuela following the collapse of the economy of the oil giant led by socialist Nicolas Maduro since 2013.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, the number of refugees from Ukraine reached six million by the end of 2023.

According to data from the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA), up to 1.7 million people (75 percent of the population) have been displaced in the Gaza Strip due to the war, often forced to move multiple times.