The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)  has counted 100 million people worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes.

The figure  is the highest number of displaced people recorded since World War II.

The UN body said in its Global Trends Report on Thursday that displacement of civilians from Ukraine was the largest and fastest-growing refugee crisis since the UNHCR was established in 1951.

The Geneva-based UNHCR said Russian invasion of Ukraine was among the multiple simultaneous emergencies, alongside that in Afghanistan.

Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said numbers had climbed every year in the last decade.

He added that the “terrible trend” would continue unless the international community took action to resolve conflicts and find lasting resolutions.

The report addressed developments in 2021, but included the current refugee figure to highlight the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

The UNHCR counted 89.3 million people displaced by war, violence, persecution and human rights abuses by the end of 2021, eight per cent more than a year earlier.

The number has been rising for years, with more than double the number of people fleeing their homes in late 2021 compared to 10 years earlier. 

(dpa/NAN)