Geneva: The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has released its annual Global Report on Internal Displacement, revealing a new record of 75.9 million internally displaced people (IDPs) worldwide by the end of 2023.
Of this staggering total, 68.3 million were uprooted due to conflict and violence, while 7.7 million were displaced by disasters.
The report highlights floods and storms as the primary drivers of disaster-induced displacement, notably in south-eastern Africa, where cyclone Freddy triggered 1.4 million movements across six countries. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were responsible for 6.1 million displacements in 2023, marking an unprecedented surge comparable to the past seven years combined. The earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria alone led to 4.7 million displacements, one of the most significant disaster displacement events recorded since 2008.
In total, floods, storms, earthquakes, wildfires, and other disasters accounted for 26.4 million displacements in 2023, the third-highest annual figure in the last decade. The 7.7 million IDPs displaced by disasters by the year’s end represent the second-highest recorded since IDMC began tracking this metric in 2019.
Notably, even high-income countries like Canada and New Zealand reported record-high displacement figures. Climate change exacerbates hazards like cyclone Mocha in the Indian Ocean, Hurricane Otis in Mexico, storm Daniel in the Mediterranean, and wildfires in Canada and Greece. These events underscore the urgency of addressing the underlying drivers of displacement and building resilience in vulnerable communities.
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IDMC displacement
