2 July 2013 – More than 55% of the world’s refugee population come from five countries in states of emergency in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, according to a new report by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR on global refugee trends in 2012.
Out of the 7.6 million people who became refugees in 2012, more than 4 million originated from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic. This is the highest number of refugees since 1994, with the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic being a major factor.