Blog - Internal Displacement Surges in First Half of 2020

The number of people newly displaced within their own countries this year could be almost triple that of 2019 if current trends continue.

In its midyear update, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre recorded more than 14.6 million new internally displaced persons across 127 countries and territories during the first half of 2020.

That is more than a third higher than the same period last year, when new IDPs increased by about 10.8 million. There were 33.4 million new IDPs during the whole of 2019.

The volatility of displacement crises — such as disasters and conflict — compounded by the reduced access to health care and increased economic hardship brought on by COVID-19 are to blame for the surge.