Conflicts drive new record number of displacements

Conflict and violence in Sudan, Palestine and elsewhere drove the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) around the world to an unprecedented 75.9 million at the end of 2023, the latest annual report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), has revealed.   

According to the 2024 Global Report on internal displacement, as many as 68.3 million people were displaced by conflict and violence. The rest (7.7 million) were rendered homeless by disasters. Almost half, 46 percent, of all IDPs live in sub-Saharan Africa. 

The report shows that the number of IDPs has grown by 50 percent in the last five years. Conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Palestine accounted for nearly two-thirds of new movements in 2023. 

In Sudan, the 9.1 million people displaced at the end of the year was the highest ever recorded in a single country since records began in 2008. Sudan’s six million internal displacements, or forced movements, by conflict during 2023, were more than its previous 14 years combined. The tally was also the second most ever recorded in one country after Ukraine’s 16.9 million in 2022. 

In the Gaza Strip, IDMC calculated 3.4 million displacements in the last three months of 2023, which was 17 percent of total conflict displacements worldwide during the year.  
Alexandra Bilak, IDMC director, said the millions of people forced to flee in 2023 were just the “tip of the iceberg”, adding to the tens of millions of IDPs who were already displaced from previous and ongoing conflicts, violence and disasters.

“Over the past two years, we’ve seen alarming new levels of people having to flee their homes due to conflict and violence, even in regions where the trend had been improving,” said Bilak, adding, “Conflict, and the devastation it leaves behind, is keeping millions from rebuilding their lives, often for years on end.”  

Record increments
In the past five years, the number of people living in internal displacement as a result of conflict and violence has increased by 22.6 million, or 49 percent, with the two biggest increases in 2022 and 2023.  
“Millions of families are having their lives torn apart by conflict and violence. We have never, ever recorded so many people forced away from their homes and communities. It is a damning verdict on the failures of conflict prevention and peace-making,” said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. 

He added: “The suffering and the displacement last far beyond the news cycle. Too often their fate ends up in silence and neglect. The lack of protection and assistance that millions endure cannot be allowed to continue.” 

Floods, storms, earthquakes, wildfires and other disasters triggered 26.4 million displacements in 2023, the third-highest annual total in the past 10 years. The 7.7 million IDPs at the end of 2023, displaced by disasters, is the second most since IDMC began recording this metric in 2019.
  
The 148 countries reporting disaster displacement include high-income countries such as Canada and New Zealand, which reported their highest figures ever. Climate change is making some hazards more frequent and intense, such as cyclone Mocha in the Indian Ocean, Hurricane Otis in Mexico, storm Daniel in the Mediterranean and wildfires in Canada and Greece last summer. It is also making communities more vulnerable and addressing the underlying drivers of displacement more urgent.
 
“No country is immune to disaster displacement,” said Bilak. “But we can see a difference in how displacement affects people in countries that prepare and plan for its impacts and those that don’t. Those that look at the data and make prevention, response and long-term development plans that consider displacement, fare far better.” 
 
As in previous years, floods and storms caused the most disaster displacement, including in south-eastern Africa where cyclone Freddy triggered 1.4 million movements across six countries and territories. Earthquakes and volcanic activity triggered 6.1 million displacements in 2023, as many as in the past seven years combined. The earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria triggered 4.7 million displacements, one of the largest disaster displacement events since records began in 2008. 
 
Sub-Saharan Africa 
The number of internal displacements in sub-Saharan Africa reached a record 19.5 million in 2023, up from the 16.5 million reported in 2022 and 42 percent of the global total. Figures for the region have risen for the last five years in succession. 
Conflict and violence triggered 13.5 million movements, the highest figure for the past 15 years. Sudan made up 45 percent of this total and the DRC recorded the second-highest figure. 

Between them, they accounted for almost half of all conflict displacements worldwide. Significant displacement also continued in other countries grappling with protracted conflicts across the Greater Horn, Central and West Africa. 
Disasters triggered six million displacements across the region, the second-highest figure since records began in 2008 and nearly double the average of the past decade. They were mainly the result of heavy flooding in the Horn of Africa after years of drought. 

Cyclone Freddy was the largest storm to hit the region, with most displacements reported in Malawi and Mozambique. 
Disasters and conflict are presented as different triggers, but their impacts can overlap, often leading to repeated and/or protracted displacement. Together, conflict and disasters left 34.8 million people living in internal displacement across the region as of the end of 2023, which is at least 46 percent of the global total. Looking at the longer-term trend, the total number of IDPs in sub-Saharan Africa has nearly tripled since 2013.

Floods, drought
Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya suffered severe floods, fuelled in large part by the onset of El Niño. 

The Deyr floods disrupted humanitarian relief efforts and prompted the federal government to declare an emergency in the states of Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Puntland, and South West. Some sites hosting IDPs were flooded in Galmudug, displacing people again. Around 85 percent of the city of Beledweyne was left underwater in May, triggering 260,000 displacements. Flood displacement takes place in this city nearly every year, which has proved to be gradually eroding the resilience of those affected. 

Between them, drought and floods triggered two million movements in Somalia in 2023, the highest disaster displacement figure for the country. Lack of data meant it was not possible to estimate how many people were still living in displacement as a result of disasters by the end of the year. 

Kenya also reported its highest number of disaster displacements, with 641,000. Floods and flash floods particularly hit the north-eastern counties of Mandera and Wajir and the eastern county of Garissa. Significant flooding also took place in the north-western county of Turkana, where refugees living in the Kakuma camp were affected.

Floods triggered 550,000 displacements in Ethiopia. Most took place during Deyr in southern and south-eastern areas, where rainfall was 300 percent higher than average. The Somali region was among the most affected, but displacements also occurred in South Ethiopia, South West Ethiopia, Oromia, Afar, Amhara and Gambela. The floods also fuelled a cholera outbreak, including among IDPs, particularly in the Amhara and Somali regions. 

A telling blow
Significant flood displacement also took place in countries along the White Nile basin, albeit on a lesser scale. The conflict in Sudan hampered data collection, meaning the figure of 58,000 movements is likely to be conservative. The overlap of disaster and conflict displacement was evident in River Nile state, which recorded the highest share of the country’s flood displacements while hosting its second-largest number of people displaced by conflict and violence. 

In South Darfur state, home to the highest number of people displaced by conflict and violence and the second-most affected by disasters, floods hit people who had already fled conflict, forcing them to move again. Here too, the floods aggravated a cholera outbreak. 

After significant floods in 2022, South Sudan recorded a fall in disaster displacements in 2023 to 167,000, its lowest figure since 2018. Most occurred in Unity and Jonglei states, where conflict and violence also forced people to flee their homes. Conflict and disasters combined led to 450,000 displacements across the country as a whole. A significant influx of refugees from Sudan also heightened humanitarian needs. 
Uganda reported more than 50,000 disaster displacements, more than half of which took place during the rainy season in October, which was fuelled by El Nino. This was 49 percent higher than in 2022, but fewer than the decadal average. 

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on April 15, 2023, engulfing Sudan in its largest internal displacement crisis since data became available for the country in 2009. The conflict triggered six million displacements during the year, more than the previous 14 years combined. It left 9.1 million people internally displaced as of the end of the year, making Sudan the country with the highest number of IDPs globally.

About the IDMC 
IDMC is the world’s leading source of data and analysis on internal displacement. It provides high-quality data, analysis and expertise on internal displacement to inform policy and operational decisions that can improve the lives of IDPs worldwide and reduce the risk of future displacement. IDMC was established in 1998 and is part of the Norwegian Refugee Council.  Internal displacement refers to the forced movement of people within the country they live in.