31.1 million people displaced within their own country in 2016 – IDMC

Conflict, violence and disasters forced one person to flee every second 

Conflict, violence and disasters caused 31.1 million new internal displacements in 2016, according to a new report released  by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

“In 2016, one person every second was forced to flee their home inside their own country. Internally displaced people now outnumber refugees by two to one. It is urgent to put internal displacement back on the global agenda,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the NRC.

Of the 6.9 million new internal displacements caused by conflict in 2016, 2.6 million took place in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Global Report on Internal Displacement.

Disasters displaced 24 million new victims in 2016, linked to sudden-onset weather hazards such as floods, storms, wildfires and severe winter conditions.

Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID) 2017