Cairo, 21 May – A new global report shows that one in three of the world’s internal displacements were, at the end of 2023, in the region covered by the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Middle East and North Africa office, mainly in Sudan, Syria and Yemen. 

The renowned Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID) notes most of these movements (22.1 million) were people fleeing conflict and violence, but disasters also prompted 1.3 million new internal displacements.  

This marks a 71 per cent increase on the 2022 figure of 362,000, mainly due to powerful earthquakes that struck Syria (February) and Morocco (September), causing more than 848,000 movements. Meanwhile, storm Daniel, which hit Libya in September, caused up to 53,000 displacements.  

Disasters also contributed to Syria's internal displacement crisis which reached catastrophic levels in 2023. The earthquakes, which hit the northwest, triggered around 678,000 new displacements. Escalating conflict in October caused over 79,000 more to flee, bringing the total number of IDPs in Syria to 7.2 million. 

In 2023, IOM supported over 560,000 internally displaced Syrians in Northwest Syria with shelter, 116,500 with health services, 22,400 with mental health services and counselling, and 369,000 with clean water and sanitation.   

Ongoing hostilities continue to hamper recovery efforts. IOM is appealing for USD 89 million for its Crisis Response Plan 2024 for the Syrian Arab Republic, which will allow 2.1 million individuals to receive further lifesaving support.  The Organization hopes that the 2024 Brussels VIII Conference on ‘Supporting the future of Syria and the region’, taking place this week, will address the significant funding shortfall which is placing even more vulnerable people at greater risk.  

The catastrophic war in Sudan has surpassed even Syria's massive numbers of displaced people with 8.6 million people forced to flee conflict within the country's borders.    

“It is alarming to see this massive surge in displacements in the MENA region,” noted Othman Belbeisi, IOM’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “We see it as a call to action, and we will thus redouble our efforts to expand disaster risk reduction, uphold human rights and, whenever possible, prevent displacement before it happens."   

Globally, an unprecedented 75.9 million individuals were living in internal displacement at the end of 2023, according to the report. Nearly 47 million new internal displacements were registered during the year, highlighting the urgency to protect internally displaced people and prevent future displacements.   

The full report is an invaluable tool for humanitarian and development partners, governments, and a range of diverse stakeholders as they work to resolve existent displacements and prepare for future displacements.   

IOM is an IDMC GRID partner, providing reliable and accurate data through its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). DTM, integral to IOM Global Data Institute (GDI) serves as the world’s largest source of primary data on internal displacement, informing 81 per cent of the Humanitarian Needs Overview and Humanitarian Response Plans (2023).  

For more information please contact: 

In Cairo: Joe Lowry at jlowry@iom.int