One of the major findings of the Global Report on Internal Displacement 2026, published this Tuesday by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The world has never had so many internally displaced people.
According to the Global Report on Internal Displacement 2026 (GRID 2026), 82.2 million people were living in a situation of internal displacement at the end of 2025. A figure that almost doubled in ten years, illustrating the scale of a crisis now classified as structural and global.
Conflicts surpass natural disasters
In 2025, conflicts and violence caused 32.3 million new internal displacements, a 60% increase from 2024. For the first time since this data was collected, they surpass natural disasters as the main driver of forced displacements.
International wars, ongoing internal conflicts, attacks on urban areas: growing instability is causing millions of civilians to flee, often repeatedly, without ever leaving their country’s borders.
“The same people are uprooted again and again, while the systems that are supposed to protect them weaken,” warns IDMC director Tracy Lucas.
Climate disasters: a persistent danger
Natural disasters remain a major cause of displacements. Storms, floods, fires, and other climate events led to 29.9 million internal displacements in 2025. This is a decrease compared to 2024, which was marked by exceptional disasters, but still higher than the average of the last decade.
The report highlights the increasing impact of climate change, which is changing the geography of risks: countries that were previously relatively spared are now experiencing massive displacements, while chronically vulnerable areas remain exposed.
Sub-Saharan Africa on the frontlines
With 31.7 million internally displaced people, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly 40% of the global total, despite a slight decrease in 2025. A decrease partly linked to returns in some countries, but often under precarious and unstable conditions.
Two countries alone account for a massive share of conflict-related displacements: Iran, with around 10 million internal displacements, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with over 9.7 million. Together, they represent nearly two-thirds of conflict-related displacements recorded worldwide in 2025.
The Middle East, South Asia, the Americas, as well as certain regions in Europe and Central Asia, also remain heavily affected by instability and violence.
A sustained crisis without sufficient solutions
Beyond the numbers, the report emphasizes the lack of durable solutions for millions of internally displaced people. Inadequate security for returns, lack of local integration, and insufficient public policies: for many states, internal displacement is still treated as a punctual humanitarian emergency rather than a long-term development problem.
In a context of increasing humanitarian needs and declining financial resources, IDMC calls for strengthening national data collection systems, conflict prevention, and adaptation to climate change.
A warning for the international community
The message of GRID 2026 is clear: without strong and coordinated political action, the number of internally displaced people will continue to rise. “Internal displacement is no longer a marginal crisis, but a lasting reality of our world,” warns IDMC.
A warning that primarily concerns affected countries, but also the entire international community, faced with increasingly deep global instability.
