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The global number of people who have been forced to flee within their countries or across borders has reached 70.8 million, the highest level since the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was founded in 1950, the organisation said Wednesday.
The global population of internally displaced people and refugees grew by 2.3 million between the end of 2017 and the end of 2018.
The biggest new addition to the total came from Ethiopia, which saw violence between ethnic communities in the south and west of the country.
Some 1.56 million Ethiopians were uprooted last year. The vast majority stayed within their country.
In addition, Syria and Nigeria ranked among the top sources of new internal and cross-border displacement.
Large numbers of people fleeing from Venezuela, South Sudan and Congo also helped to push global numbers to the record, the UNHCR said.
“We have become almost unable to make peace,” Grandi told reporters ahead of the release of the figures in Geneva.
New conflicts are producing new waves of refugees while old ones do not get resolved, the UN high commissioner for refugees said.
What China’s post-war refugee exodus tells us about refugee crises today – author Helen Zia
As the members of the UN Security Council are divided even though they are responsible for international peace and security, Grandi said: “How do you expect the number of refugees to diminish?”
The UNHCR cautioned that its latest annual figure is a conservative estimate, as only a small share of the 4 million Venezuelans who have left their crisis-hit country have formally applied for asylum so far.

Venezuela and Syria are among the hotspots where efforts to find diplomatic and humanitarian solutions have been hampered by rivalry between permanent Security Council members Russia and the United States.
Last year, the number of people who were able to return to their abandoned homes around the world dropped to 2.5 million, from 5 million in the previous year.
“For returns to be sustainable, it is critical that they don’t take place precipitously or prematurely,” the UNCHR noted, pointing to people who return to Syria or South Sudan despite lacking stability.
The burden of hosting refugees largely falls on the world's poorest countries, which are home to a third of the global refugee population.
Why a former Vietnamese refugee returned to Hong Kong to give back to the city of her harsh childhood
The countries that hosted the largest refugee populations last year were Syria's neighbour Turkey and Afghanistan's neighbour Pakistan, followed by Uganda, Sudan and Germany.
However, the US received the highest number of new asylum applications in 2018. The US is a key destination for people fleeing violence in Central America, as well as Venezuelans seeking to escape the economic and political crisis in their country.
Other main recipients of new claims included South American countries and Southern European countries, as well as Germany, France and Canada.
Grandi noted that Chancellor Angela Merkel had paid a “heavy price” politically for her openness to migration, arguing this made her actions “even more courageous”.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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United Nations

World refugee count hits grim milestone of 70.8 million as major powers squabble

A Syrian refugee boy at a camp in the town of el-Marj, in Lebanon's Bekaa valley. Photo: DPA

Venezuelan migrants arrive to get a refugee application at the Peruvian border post at the binational border attention centre (CEBAF) in Tumbes, Peru on June 14, 2019. - Some 12,000 Venezuelans have entered to Peru in the last three days, as starting on June 15, 2019, Peru will require a humanitarian visa, in addition to the passport, to all Venezuelan citizens who wish to enter the country alleging security reasons. (Photo by Cris BOURONCLE / AFP)

Children in a burned shelter in Cherqo village, Southern Ethiopia. Photo: AFP

From Afghanistan to the Outback: why refugees are ditching Australia’s pricey cities and going bush

Hazara refugee Ali in his Afghan Friendship Restaurant in Griffith, a tribute to the warm welcome he says he received after moving to the town five years ago. Photo: AFP

This photo taken on September 28, 2018 shows Hazara refugee Ali cooking kebabs in his "Afghan Friendship Restaurant" in Griffith, a tribute to the warm welcome he says he received after moving to the town five years ago. - The 44-year-old father of three is among a growing number of refugees and migrants to Australia who have opted to live in the bush rather than among the bright lights, hustle-bustle and astronomical prices of Sydney or Melbourne. (Photo by PETER PARKS / AFP) / To go with Australia-immigration-refugee-rural-lifestyle-Afghanistan, FEATURE by Glenda KWEK

This photo taken on September 28, 2018 shows the "Afghan Friendship Restaurant" in Griffith, a tribute to the warm welcome Hazara refugee Ali says he received after moving to the town five years ago. - The 44-year-old father of three is among a growing number of refugees and migrants to Australia who have opted to live in the bush rather than among the bright lights, hustle-bustle and astronomical prices of Sydney or Melbourne. (Photo by PETER PARKS / AFP) / To go with Australia-immigration-refugee-rural-lifestyle-Afghanistan, FEATURE by Glenda KWEK

Hong Kong refugees and NGOs dealt a body blow by UN comments on ‘fake’ asylum seekers

Children rush to begin the Ma Wan Easter Egg Hunt, a charity campaign to raise funds for refugees and asylum seekers in Hong Kong, on April 15, 2017. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Refugees appeal to Hong Kong government to end their ‘long wait’ and allow them to leave city

The asylum seekers, who staged a protest on Wednesday, have urged the Hong Kong government to give them humanitarian visas Photo: Dickson Lee

A group of asylum-seekers pleads the Hong Kong government for a humanitarian visa. Photographed at the Central Governments Office in Tamar. 06MAR19 SCMP / Dickson Lee

‘We don’t have a life here’: family of ‘Snowden refugees’ torn apart as Canada considers asylum request

From left: Little Dinath, his dad Supun Thilina Kellapatha, and sister Sethumdi, make a video call to his half-sister Keana, 7, who is in Canada. Photo: Nora Tam

Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis holds a photo where her daughter Sethumdi appears with her half-sister Keana. Photo: Raquel Carvalho

Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis [left], her husband Supun Thilina Kellapatha and their two children, Sethumdi and Dinath, are waiting for their asylum claims to Canada to be screened. Photo: Raquel Carvalho

Sethumdi and her father Supun Thilina Kellapatha hold a picture where they are portraid with Keana, who is now in Canada. Photo: Raquel Carvalho

(L-R) Sethumdi thilanya kellapatha, 7, and brother Suvasthaki vithika dinath kellapatha, 3, who are still staying in Hong Kong, make a video call with Vanessa Mae Rodel in Canada. Vanessa Mae Rodel and her seven-year-old daughter Keana, had been granted asylum in Canada earlier on. Photographed in Sheung Wan. The family sheltered Edward Snowden while he was in Hong Kong. 27MAY19 SCMP / Nora Tam

Vanessa Rodel and her 7-year-old daughter Keana exit Lester B. Pearson Airport in Toronto on Monday, March 25, 2019. The Filipino woman who helped shelter former NSA contractor Edward Snowden when he fled to Hong Kong has been granted refugee status in Canada. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

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United Nations refugee agency described the figure at the end of 2018 as ‘conservative’
Number of displaced people in the world has doubled over the last 20 years


United Nations refugee agency attributed the increase partly to surging displacement in Ethiopia caused by inter-ethnic conflict, and in Venezuela, where thousands are fleeing every day amid an economic collapse.


World refugee count hits grim milestone of 70.8 million as major powers squabble

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}United Nations refugee agency described the figure at the end of 2018 as ‘conservative’ Number of displaced people in the world has doubled over the last 20 years

United Nations refugee agency described the figure at the end of 2018 as ‘conservative’

Number of displaced people in the world has doubled over the last 20 years