• Many children are traumatised by being forced to flee their homes. Georgia, August 2008. [Photo:UNHCR/Y.Mechitov]

  It is estimated there are more  than 26 million people displaced by armed conflict and violence in 2007 in at least 52 countries, a six percent increase compared to the previous year

• Up to 50 million people are displaced in any given year by natural disasters

• A total of 1 per cent of the world 6.7 billion people is estimated to be displaced internally either by armed conflicts, violence, urbanization, development and natural disasters

• Over the last decade, people in conflict zones have joined the ranks of the world’s displaced at a rate of 100 per hour 

• At the end of 2007, Africa hosted almost half of the global IDP population 

• Countries with the highest number of violence-induced displacements: Sudan (5.8 million), Colombia (up to 4 million), Iraq (2.5 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1.4 million), Uganda (1.3 million)

• 2.2 million people in 12 countries were displaced by the 2004 Tsunami in Asia  

• 4.4 million people were displaced in Bangladesh by Cyclone Sidr and floods in 2007 alone

• 15 million people were displaced by the Sichuan earthquake in China in May 2008

Next: CAR: Non Longer Forgotten