Global number of refugees has reached a record high, says UN agency

Conflicts raging on three continents have driven the global number of refugees to a new record of more than 114 million, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

This number does not include people displaced by the current war between Israel and Hamas.

Between January and June, 1.6 million people around the world applied for asylum, the highest in a half year to date, according to the UNHCR.

Conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and the Russian war on Ukraine drove the most people from their homes this year.

Droughts, floods and the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan have also led to the increase.

"The world's focus now is – rightly – on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. But globally, far too many conflicts are proliferating or escalating, shattering innocent lives and uprooting people," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

The UNHCR pointed out that three quarters of all refugees are hosted by low- and middle-income countries.

In the first half of the year, some 404,000 refugees returned home, according to UNHCR.

Almost 2.7 million internally displaced persons were also able to return home.