Last year there were nearly 14 million refugees worldwide, according to a US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants report. Ponder that for a moment. That means 14 million people could not be in their home area (for any number of reasons - famine, war, forced relocation, etc). If you are having trouble wrapping your mind around that, join the club. The population of New York City is only 8 million.
Last year's number was an increase of 2 million from the year before, driven by Iraq as well as registration in Pakistan that revealed an extra one million Afghani refugees. In total, there were 3.3 million refugees from Afghanistan (which has been one of the largest sources of refugees long before the US invasion), 3.0 million from the Palestinian territories and over 1.7 million from Iraq. The article doesn't say where the other refugees come from, so when I get a chance I'll check the report.
1 comment:
Well written article.
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