UN Refugee Agency: Number of Displaced Tops 100 Million

An Afghan boy sleeps beneath a mosquito net as those displaced people have put up makeshift tents on the ground seeking to receive asylum from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) outside the Islamabad Press Club in Islamabad, on May 9, 2022. Rahmat Gul/AP Photo

BERLIN—The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations, and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday.

“One hundred million is a stark figure—sobering and alarming in equal measure,“ said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. ”It’s a record that should never have been set.