ONE in 70 people worldwide is forcibly displaced, according to a damning new report released today by the United Nations.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says at least 117.8 million people, or one in 70 across the world, are forcibly displaced.

The UN body says that for the first time in 10 years, forced displacement declined during 2025. But despite a roughly 4 per cent decrease in 2025, this progress has been overshadowed by Lebanon’s fast-growing displacement crisis.

Since the US-Israel war on Iran began in late March 2026, Israeli attacks have forcibly displaced more than one million, with a further 3.2 million internally displaced in Iran.

Of the 117.8 million forcibly displaced, some 68.6 million are internally displaced within their own countries due to conflict or other crises.

There are around 28.5 million refugees, people who have been forced to flee their countries, with most coming from Venezuela (6.4 million) and Palestine (6 million).

Colombia (2.8 million), Germany (2.7 million) and Turkey (2.4 million) have taken in the most refugees.

The war in Ukraine, which started in 2022, led to one of the fastest-growing refugee crises since World War II, with 5.7 million people forced to flee the country in less than a year.

In 2023, conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces increased the number of refugees to 1.5 million.

In the same year, Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip had a devastating toll on the Palestinian population. Nearly all of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been displaced, with many having been forced to flee multiple times.

More recently, the US-Israeli war on Iran has caused a new displacement crisis in Lebanon following the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.