Last year, natural disasters forced people to leave their homes 45.8 million times. This is almost twice the average for the last decade. But despite the increase in natural disasters, 90% of internally displaced people last year (73.5 million) fled conflicts, wars, and violence. According to EurоNews, these are the data of the global report of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), reports UNN.
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According to the IDMC, which is part of the Norwegian Refugee Council, virtually all recorded internal "disaster displacements" were caused by extreme weather events that are exacerbated by climate change. The number of people living in internal displacement at the end of 2024 exceeded 83 million globally for the first time.
In total, 83.4 million people were forced to move within their country or to neighboring countries last year due to conflict and violence, as well as an increase in natural disasters. This is equivalent to the population of Germany and more than twice the figures recorded six years ago.
Internal displacement is where conflict, poverty and climate collide, affecting the least protected the most
Deputy Managing Director of the Global Climate Mobility Center (GCCM) Sarah Rosengaertner called the latest figures "sad, but not unexpected."
This is consistent with the news that the world has reached, if not exceeded, the threshold of 1.5°C of average global warming. Unfortunately, we can expect rising temperatures to mean more disasters and a further increase in the number of people displaced by natural disasters in the coming years and decades.
Of the total number of IDPs of 83.4 million people last year, 9.8 million were displaced by natural disasters. This is 29% more than in 2023, and more than twice as much as five years ago.
Many instances of displacement due to natural disasters were preventive evacuations that saved lives in the US, Philippines, Bangladesh and other countries.
But the largest number of people left their homes last year due to wars, conflicts, hunger and violence. The number of countries reporting population displacement due to conflict and natural disasters has tripled since 2009.
According to an analysis of IDMC and Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative data, by the end of 2024, more than three-quarters of people displaced internally by conflict and violence lived in countries with high or very high vulnerability to climate change.
Let us remind you
2024 became the hottest in the entire history of observations. It also became the first when the average temperature exceeded the pre-industrial level by more than 1.5 C, which indicates a further aggravation of the climate crisis.