The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center has reported that conflicts and natural disasters have led to nearly 76 million people being displaced within their countries in the last year. This marks a new record, with violence in Sudan, Congo, and the Middle East driving two-thirds of the new movement.
The report found that the number of internally displaced people has increased by 50% over the past five years and has doubled in the past decade. Almost 90% of the total displacement was attributed to conflict and violence, while around 10% stemmed from the impact of natural disasters.
One of the most significant increases in displacement was seen in Sudan, where more than 9 million people were displaced at the end of 2023. This was a record for a single country since the center began tracking such figures 16 years ago. The conflict in Sudan erupted in April 2023, leading to soaring tensions between the military leaders and the rival Rapid Support Forces.
In Gaza, the group reported a total of 3.4 million movements within the territory in the last quarter of 2023, following the Israeli military response to attacks in Israel on October 7th. This resulted in 1.7 million people being displaced in Gaza by the end of the year.
The director of the group, Alexandra Bilak, stated that the millions of people forced to flee in 2023 are just the “tip of the iceberg,” on top of the tens of millions displaced from earlier and ongoing conflicts, violence, and disasters. The figures highlight the impact of conflict, climate change, and other factors on human movement.
This report sheds light on the growing issue of internal displacement and the urgent need for solutions to address the root causes of these movements.
