The 2020 Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID) presents global figures for internal displacement in 2019.
The report includes the following key statistics on internal displacement due to conflict and violence:
- An estimated 45.7 million people were internally displaced as a result of conflict and violence at the end of 2019, the highest figure ever recorded. Five countries— Syria (6.5 million), Colombia (5.6 million), DRC (5.5 million), Yemen (3.6 million), Afghanistan (3 million)—account for more than half of the global total.
- 8.5 million new displacements due to conflict and violence were recorded in 50 countries in 2019. The majority occurred in low and middle-income countries including large-scale internal displacement in Syria (1.8 million), DRC (1.7 million) and Ethiopia (1.1 million).
- Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) recorded the largest number of new displacements due to conflict (4.6 million). Escalating violence and deteriorating security in the Sahel region, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, caused many new displacements. In DRC, armed conflict and inter-communal violence resulted in nearly 1.7 million new displacements, mainly in the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. In Ethiopia, more than a million people were displaced by conflict and violence. Ongoing conflict in Somalia and South Sudan also displaced hundreds of thousands of people. An estimated 19.2 million people in SSA were internally displaced due to conflict and violence at the end of 2019, the highest figure ever recorded for the region.
- 2.6 million new displacements were recorded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Protracted conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya led to an increase in displacement in the MENA region during 2019. Around 12.5 million people were internally displaced as a result of conflict and violence across the MENA region at the end of 2019.
This year’s report assesses efforts to prevent and respond to internal displacement in 2019, and identifies three critical success factors:
- Improved evidence. Improvements in the quantity and quality of data available enabled better reporting and analysis, which in turn informed more effective responses and risk
mitigation measures. - Strengthened capacity. Humanitarian and development actors demonstrated better coordination and increased investment.
- Political commitment. New national initiatives showed greater levels of political commitment: Niger and Somalia improved their policy frameworks on internal displacement; Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines incorporated displacement in their development plans and in reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals, or when updating risk management strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction; and Equatorial Guinea, Somalia and South Sudan ratified the Kampala Convention in 2019. At a global level, the UN Secretary-General established the high-level Panel on Internal Displacement.
The authors of the report also identify the following lessons learned: (1) the recognition of internal displacement is a vital first step toward addressing it; (2) policies and programs may
integrate internal displacement or be dedicated to it, but they should always align with national priorities; (3) regional and global initiatives act as catalysts for national commitment and local action; (4) effective local initiatives require more predictable and sustained funding; (5) existing tools can be used to provide planners and policymakers with evidence that goes beyond numbers; (6) improved collaboration is making data more available and accessible; and (7) accounting for displacement and reporting on progress is a vital tool in generating and sustaining political commitment.