Total number of refugees : above 50 million

Reported by Foreign Policy :
For the first time since the end of World War II, the total number of refugees in the world has risen above 50 million, according to figures released Friday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

There Are as Many Refugees in the World as Justin Bieber Twitter Followers

Plus de 50 millions de déracinés dans le monde, « la paix en déficit grave »

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In Refugee Statistics, a Stark Tale of Global Strife

Statistics are not usually effective at depicting tragedy, which is why United Nations reports rarely generate passion. But the figures released this past week by the United Nations refugee agency offer perhaps the starkest reflection of the strife raking vast stretches of the globe.

The number of people around the world forced by conflict to flee their homes, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported, has soared past 51 million, the highest number since World War II. That’s more than six times the population of New York City, emptied into squalid camps.

Half the refugees are children; a growing number of these are on their own, according to the report. More than half of the 6.3 million refugees under the refugee agency’s care have been in exile for five years or more, testifying to conflicts that rage on and on. Most are what the United Nations refers to as “internally displaced” — people who have fled their homes but not their countries.