Internal displacements caused by violence or conflict at record high in 2025

Original article by Olivia Lee

The number of internal displacements triggered by conflict or violence around the world reached a record high in 2025, surpassing the number of disaster-driven internal displacements for the first time.

A report published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) shows that by the end of 2025 there were 32.3m conflict-driven internal displacements. That is 60% higher than those recorded the previous year, and – for the first time since data collection began in 2008 – above displacements driven by natural disasters, which reached 29.9m in 2025.

Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, described the figures as a “sign of a global collapse” in basic protection of civilians.

“Countless families are returning to destroyed homes and disappearing services – or cannot return at all. From DR Congo and Sudan to Iran and Lebanon, we see millions more displaced on top of the previous record numbers driven out of their homes,” he added.

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Internal displacements refer to each new instance that a person is forced to flee within the borders of their own country. The same person can be displaced several times.

The IDMC’s Global Report on Internal Displacement also shows that the number of people displaced – during 2025 or earlier but who still remain displaced – remains high.

In total, 82.2 million people were displaced in 2025, the second-highest figure after the historical peak in 2024 of 83.5 million and the first decrease in the number of people forced to flee since data collection began 20 years ago. The total number of internal displacements was 62.2m in 2025.

The decline in the number of people displaced is due to people returning in parts of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria, and lack of data availability. However, the report highlights the decline in number “should not be mistaken for progress” as behind the numbers “lie hundreds of thousands of forced returns, destroyed infrastructure and deepening social and environmental pressures” that make permanent solutions for people unrealistic.

More than 83% of the people displaced in 2025 were forced to flee their homes in their countries because of conflict and violence, with the remainder having left because of natural disasters.

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Nearly half of all people forced to leave their homes last year because of conflicts were in Sudan, Colombia, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. Sudan accounted for the largest number of internally displaced people for the third consecutive year.

The record number of conflict-driven displacements is the result of new international conflicts and intensified existing conflicts that have made it impossible for people to return home.

In 2025, 46% of internal displacements caused by violence were linked to international armed conflicts, nearly double the figure recorded last year.

Iran and the DRC accounted for two-thirds of all conflict-driven internal displacements in 2025.

Tracy Lucas, the director of the IDMC, said: “When you’re talking about the displacements themselves – the movements of people – we have to recognise that in some cases, people are continually displaced. They’re not just displaced once, they could be displaced two or three times … Yet the systems meant to protect them are being dismantled.”