At the global level, there are record numbers of people – across almost every continent – who have been forcibly displaced. An unprecedented 65.6 million people have been forced from their homes, of which 22.5 million are refugees. 1 in every 113 people globally is now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced, or a refugee.

 Today, more than twenty people are displaced every minute.

The causes of this ever-growing rise in displacement are many, and they are complex. However, UNHCR has identified three core reasons:

1. First, situations (including civil, international and internationalized wars) that create large numbers of refugees are lasting longer;

2. Second, there are a number of new and re-ignited conflicts currently raging (notably in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, and more);

3. Third, the rate at which solutions are being found for refugees and internally displaced people has been on a falling trend since the end of the Cold War.