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Thursday, June 18, 2015

Global Refugee Numbers Reach Alarming Levels, UN Reports Thursday June 18,2015

Syria overtook Afghanistan to become the world's biggest source of refugees last year, while the number of people forced from their homes by conflicts worldwide rose to a record 59.5 million, the United Nations' refugee agency said Thursday June 18,2015

Pointing to crises in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Burundi and elsewhere, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said he doesn't expect any improvement in 2015

UNHCR estimated that a total of 59.5 million people worldwide had been displaced by conflict by the end of last year 2014 — including 38.2 million displaced within their own countries. That was up from 51.2 million in 2013 — the previous highest since the U.N. began collecting numbers in the early 1950s. Syria alone accounted for 11.6 million of those people, the biggest single figure

The agency counted nearly 3.9 million Syrian refugees in 107 countries last year 2014, the fourth year of the country's civil war. That made it the leading source of refugees — pushing Afghanistan, which had held that status for more than 30 years, down to second place with 2.6 million refugees

Syria's northern neighbor, Turkey, became the world's biggest refugee host with 1.59 million refugees. Pakistan, which had held that position for more than a decade, was second with 1.51 million

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