Some 800,000 have been forced to flee across borders in 2011, with more people becoming refugees than at any time since 2000, according to a report released Monday by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
UNHCR's 2011 Global Trends report detailed for the first time the extent of forced displacement from a string of major humanitarian crises that began in late 2010 in Cote d'Ivoire, and was quickly followed by others in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere.
In all, 4.3 million people were newly displaced, with a full 800,000 of these fleeing their countries and becoming refugees, said the report, quoted by the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA. Worldwide, 42.5 million people ended 2011 either as refugees (15.42 million), internally displaced (26.4 million), or in the process of seeking asylum (895,000).
 

Source: BNA