The 2023 Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID) presents global figures for internal displacement due to conflict and violence and disasters. This year’s report also includes a special section on the intersecting dynamics and consequences of displacement and food insecurity.
Main messages:
- The global number of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) increased to 71 million at the end of 2022, an increase of 20 percent since 2021 and the highest figure ever recorded. This includes 62.5 million IDPs displaced by conflict and violence across 65 countries and territories and 8.7 million IDPs displaced by disasters across 88 countries and territories.
- Worldwide, 60.9 million internal displacements, or movements were recorded in 2022, 60 percent more than in 2021 and the highest figure ever recorded.
- Disasters triggered 32.6 million new displacements in 2022, a 41 percent increase above the annual average of the past ten years. 98 percent of disaster-induced displacements were caused by weather-related hazards such as floods, storms, and droughts, with record levels of flood displacement recorded in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Brazil. In the Horn of Africa, the worst drought in 40 years triggered 2.1 million movements, including 1.1 million in Somalia alone, fueling acute food insecurity across the region. Displacement caused by slow-onset hazards linked to climate change is still largely unaccounted for in the global figures.
- Conflict and violence caused 28.3 million movements in 2022, almost double the figure in 2021, and three times higher than the annual average of the past ten years. Sixty percent of conflict-induced displacements (16.9 million million) were recorded in Ukraine, the highest annual figure ever recorded for any country. Thirty-two percent of the global total was recorded in sub-Saharan Africa. DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) accounted for around four million and Ethiopia just over two million movements.
- Three-quarters of the world’s IDPs live in just 10 countries: Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ukraine, Colombia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan. In many of these countries, disasters and conflict overlapped in 2022, causing prolonged and repeated displacement. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa continue to have the highest numbers of IDPs.
- Conflict, disasters, and displacement have aggravated global food insecurity. While data on food security and internal displacement are incomplete, the available data show that these phenomena overlap. Three-quarters of countries facing crisis levels of food insecurity had internally displaced populations. Just five countries experiencing the highest levels of food insecurity (DRC, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Yemen) were also home to more than 26 million IDPs, over a third of the global total. Conflict and violence are major triggers of internal displacement, and some of the main causes of acute food insecurity globally, including the disruption of the production and distribution of food. Sudden-onset climate hazards trigger displacement, but also damage or destroy crops and food stocks, warehouses and other assets needed to produce, deliver, and sell food, while slow-onset hazards can leave entire areas unsuitable for agriculture and force communities to move.
The report proposes three priority actions to address the overlapping problems of food insecurity and internal displacement:
- Support IDPs using cash assistance and social protection. Anticipatory action, including cash assistance, can reduce the impacts of food insecurity linked with displacement. Social protection systems offer another solution, particularly when tailored to address the specific vulnerabilities of groups like IDPs.
- Support livelihoods and skills development for IDPs’ self-reliance. Developing IDPs’ livelihoods and skills can increase their food security self-reliance.
- Fill data gaps. Filling data gaps would provide evidence on the common drivers and impacts of displacement and food insecurity, including how IDPs are affected by disruptions to food systems.