The number of people who have been forced to flee their homes has crossed 100 million for the first time in recorded history, the United Nations reported Monday, with the crisis driven largely by violent conflicts including the war in Ukraine. The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the world has reached a “staggering milestone” and called on global policymakers to alleviate the crisis by stopping its root causes, including political, religious, gender, and racial persecution; hunger; the climate crisis; and war. The number of people who have been forced to leave their homes now represents 1% of the global population and is equivalent to the population of the 14th largest country in the world, according to the UNHCR.
— source commondreams.org | May 23, 2022