Report: Conflict fuels majority of internal displacements worldwide

Conflict and violence overtook disasters as the leading cause of new internal displacement worldwide last year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in Geneva.

The monitoring body recorded 32.2 million internal displacements caused by conflict and violence in 2025, a 60% increase compared with the previous year.

Nearly two-thirds of these occurred in Iran and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Disasters such as storms and floods triggered 29.9 million displacements, down 35% year-on-year. The figures refer to "displacement events" rather than individuals, meaning people may have been displaced multiple times within the same year.

Displacement refers to people being forced to flee their homes due to danger and seeking refuge elsewhere within their own country. The IDMC tracks internally displaced persons rather than those who cross international borders. The centre was established by the Norwegian Refugee Council, with the data used by national governments and the UN.

In total, 82.2 million people were living in internal displacement at the end of last year, down slightly from 83.5 million in 2024 but still the second-highest figure since IDMC's records began in 1998.

The highest numbers of internally displaced people were recorded in Sudan, Colombia, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.

"Internal displacement of tens of millions is a sign of a global collapse in prevention of conflict and basic protection of civilians," said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). "

"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. We cannot continue like this."