Refugee Planet: There Have Never Been This Many Displaced People on Earth

by Nadia Prupis, staff writer

Commmon Dreams | 20 June, 2016

Refugees arrive in Greece. (Photo: Fotomovimiento/flickr/cc)

An unprecedented 65.3 million people have been displaced around the world due to war and persecution, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Monday.

The new figure is not only a 21st century record, it is also the first time that the numbers have surpassed 60 million—which means one in every 113 people worldwide is now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced, or a refugee, the UN said. Half of them are children.