How many people are internally displaced due to conflict and violence?
By the end of year 2017, an estimated 40 million people were living in internal displacements due to conflicts and violence. Unlike refugees, the internally displaced people are on the run within their own country, which is a traumatic experience and leads to panic and uncertainty.
According to a new report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, 76% of the people who have been displaced are concentrated in ten countries, which have already been facing the tragic circumstances since years.
The Global Report on Internal Displacement suggests that among the ten worst affected nations, Syria topped the list, as over 6.7 million people were forced to flee their homes, owing to the civil war and air strikes that severed the lives of citizens. It has been one of the most affected country in terms of displacement since the year 2011. The reports from IDMC also suggest that more than half of the country’s population that existed before the war, had to fled from their own homes since the outbreak. It is unfortunate how a government crackdown on peaceful protests turned into a full-scale civil war.
Colombia stands at second position, with 6.5 million people being internally displaced. The country faced immense conflict and violence for around five decades. It was in 2016 that a peace argument was signed between government and the biggest armed group of Colombia, that is, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), hence ending the conflict. However, many other illegal armed groups are persistent and have been violating the human rights.
Conflicts had aggravated in 2017 in Democratic Republic of Congo, and chronic political instability along with armed conflict have deeply impacted the peace of the country. People are highly vulnerable, which is why a Level 3 emergency for the DRC was activated by UN in October 2017. However, humanitarian appeal in the country continues and over 4 million people have been internally displaced.
Iraq, and Sudan were the next most affected countries in 2017. These three nations witnessed 2.6 and 2.0 million people respectively, being affected by violent crisis.
The table below provides information on the new internal displacement in each nation.
| Country | No. of people internally displaced |
| Syria | 6,784,000 |
| Colombia | 6,509,000 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 4,480,000 |
| Iraq | 2,648,000 |
| Sudan | 2,072,000 |
| Yemen | 2,014,000 |
| South Sudan | 1,899,000 |
| Nigeria | 1,707,000 |
| Afghanistan | 1,286,000 |
| Turkey | 1,113,000 |
| Ethiopia | 1,078,000 |
| Somalia | 825,000 |
| India | 806,000 |
| Ukraine | 800,000 |
| Central African Republic | 689,000 |
| Myanmar | 635,000 |
| Philippines | 445,000 |
| Bangladesh | 432,000 |
| Azerbaijan | 393,000 |
| Mexico | 345,000 |
| Georgia | 289,000 |
| Pakistan | 249,000 |
| Guatemala | 242,000 |
| Cameroon | 239,000 |
| Palestine | 231,000 |
| Cyprus | 217,000 |
| Libya | 197,000 |
| Honduras | 190,000 |
| Kenya | 159,000 |
| Chad | 158,000 |
| Niger | 144,000 |
| Republic of the Congo | 108,000 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 99,000 |
| Egypt | 82,000 |
| Peru | 59,000 |
| Burundi | 57,000 |
| Sri Lanka | 42,000 |
| Thailand | 41,000 |
| Mali | 38,000 |
| Abyei Area | 31,000 |
| Uganda | 24,000 |
| Senegal | 22,000 |
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