Across the world, nearly 117 million people were pushed from their homes in 2024, and most of them never crossed a border, which is why their suffering so often goes unseen. A migration researcher at the International Organization for Migration argues that the displaced within their own countries deserve the same urgency given to refugees, since a home lost is a home lost wherever the road leads. The deeper pattern is one of accumulation: conflict keeps people away for years by tearing apart the institutions that would let them return, while disasters, though more frequent, usually allow retur
Most displaced people never cross a border, and their numbers are rising faster than refugees
Millions of internally displaced people remain without clear pathways out of displacement, including over 1.5 million Pakistanis still displaced more than a year after the 2023 floods.
Most displaced people never leave their own country.
Mark
Why does it matter that most displaced people never cross a border?
Mimi
Because attention follows borders. Someone who reaches another country becomes a refugee and appears in the news. Someone who stays inside the country is easy to miss, even though almost 76 million were in that position in 2023.
Mark
The piece says disasters displace more people each year, but conflict makes up about 90 percent of IDPs. How do both hold?
Mimi
Duration. People displaced by floods often go home. People displaced by conflict often can't, so they accumulate in the totals: 68.3 million against 6.6 million in 2023.
Luke
Worth noting that this is an opinion piece by an IOM researcher, not a neutral dataset. The figures are cited, but the article doesn't show where each one comes from.
Mark
What is the tipping point she describes?
Mimi
The moment repeated severe disasters stop being temporary. Pakistan is her example: over 20 million needed urgent help, and more than 1.5 million were still displaced a year later.
Luke
But the tipping point is a question she poses, not something observed. Nobody says when or whether it arrives. The Pakistan numbers are real, but they show a pattern, not a threshold.
Mark
And the 11 million on solutions pathways?
Luke
That's her figure, and the piece doesn't define what a pathway means or how many have actually left displacement. It's encouraging but unclear.
Mimi
The warning is plain, though: weaker cooperation on peace and thinner funding could leave people dependent on aid with no way out.
Il Polso
- Roughly 117 million people were displaced in 2024, and most of them are invisible because they never left their own countries.
- Conflict keeps about 68 million people trapped in displacement, while disasters uproot far more people across far more places.
- Floods in Pakistan in 2023 left over 1.5 million people still displaced more than a year later, a warning of what repeated disasters could do.
- A new UN coordination hub led by IOM, UNDP and UNHCR is trying to turn more than 11 million people's displacement into pathways toward solutions.
- Falling cooperation on peace threatens to stall that progress, and without coordinated action, millions risk being left with no clear way out.
Across the world, nearly 117 million people were pushed from their homes in 2024, and most of them never crossed a border, which is why their suffering so often goes unseen. A migration researcher at the International Organization for Migration argues that the displaced within their own countries deserve the same urgency given to refugees, since a home lost is a home lost wherever the road leads. The deeper pattern is one of accumulation: conflict keeps people away for years by tearing apart the institutions that would let them return, while disasters, though more frequent, usually allow return once the waters recede, a balance that may be tipping as the climate shifts. The question her analysis leaves hanging is whether the world will organize itself to help people find their way home before displacement hardens into a permanent condition.
By one migration researcher's count, almost 117 million people were displaced around the world in 2024, and most of them never left their own countries. These internally displaced persons, or IDPs, now far outnumber the world's refugees. Their situation is serious, yet it rarely makes the news, and the author of the analysis, Marie McAuliffe of the International Organization for Migration, argues that this silence is itself a problem.
The growth has been dramatic. In 2000, about 35 million people were estimated to be displaced; by 2024 that number had more than tripled. There is a puzzle in the data, though. Disasters such as floods, wildfires and monsoons cause far more displacement movements, and touch more countries, than conflict does. Yet the count of people living in displacement at any moment is dominated by conflict, which accounted for almost 90 percent of IDPs in 2023. McAuliffe explains the gap by duration: conflict destroys governance, economies and infrastructure, so people stay away for years, while after a disaster many can return once homes are rebuilt.
That balance may not hold. She asks when repeated disasters will overwhelm communities and turn short displacements into long ones. Pakistan's 2023 floods offer a sobering example, with more than 1.5 million people still displaced over a year after the water receded. Research also suggests that people displaced for long periods are more likely to eventually cross borders.
The response is taking shape around the UN Secretary-General's Action Agenda on Internal Displacement, which aims to help people end displacement and prevent it where possible. McAuliffe reports that more than 11 million IDPs are now on pathways to solutions. A new inter-agency hub, led by IOM, UNDP and UNHCR, will support local planning, financing and empowerment.
The headwinds are real. Cooperation on peace has declined significantly in recent years, raising the risk of displacement. McAuliffe calls for funding that reaches beyond emergency aid, into development, climate action and peacebuilding. Without that coordination, she warns, millions could remain in displacement with no clear path out, and more of them may be forced across borders.
By the count of one migration researcher, almost 117 million people were displaced around the world in 2024. Most of them never left their own country. They are internally displaced persons, or IDPs, and in 2023 their number reached almost 76 million, well beyond the global total of refugees.
The analysis comes from Marie McAuliffe, Head of Migration Research at the International Organization for Migration. It was first published by the World Economic Forum and republished by ThePrint. It is an opinion piece, and the views are hers alone, not necessarily those of IOM. Her argument is that people who flee without crossing a border are often forgotten. They rarely make the news, she writes, though their situation is as serious as that of people who reach another country.
The scale of the change is large. In 2000, about 35 million people were estimated to be displaced, across borders or within them. By 2024 that had more than tripled. The IDP figure alone has nearly quadrupled over the last 25 years, growing faster than the global refugee population.
The picture is odd in one respect. Year after year, disasters such as wildfires, floods and monsoons cause far more internal displacements, counted as movements, than conflict and violence do. Disaster displacement also touches many more countries and communities. Yet the annual estimates of people living in displacement show the reverse. In 2023, conflict accounted for almost 90 percent of all IDPs, or 68.3 million people, against 6.6 million displaced by disasters.
McAuliffe attributes the gap to how long each kind lasts. Conflict tends to wreck governance, social cohesion, economies and infrastructure, so displacement endures. After a disaster, people often return once the water or fire has passed and housing can be repaired or rebuilt.
That may not hold as disasters grow more frequent and severe. She asks when a tipping point will arrive, when repeated severe disasters overwhelm communities and countries and turn disaster displacement into long-term displacement. She points to the 2023 floods in Pakistan: more than 20 million people needed urgent humanitarian assistance during and just after them, and more than 1.5 million were still displaced over a year after the water receded. She adds that existing research shows IDPs, especially those displaced for long periods, are more likely to end up displaced across borders.
The response centers on the UN Secretary-General's Action Agenda on Internal Displacement, which aims to help IDPs end their displacement and to prevent it where possible. McAuliffe says more than 11 million IDPs are now on pathways to solutions. The agenda is entering a new phase after the two-year mandate of the Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement. A new inter-agency Hub for Coordination of Solutions to Internal Displacement, led by IOM, the UN Development Programme and UNHCR, will support UN country teams, resident coordinators, member states and IDP communities through local planning, financing and empowerment.
The headwinds are real. The World Economic Forum's Global Cooperation Barometer 2025 shows cooperation on peace has dropped significantly in recent years, which it links to a higher risk of displacement this year. McAuliffe calls for financing beyond humanitarian funding, through development agendas, and for climate action and peacebuilding. Without coordinated action, she warns, millions could be left in displacement with no clear way out, and the risk of cross-border displacement would rise.
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Without effective, coordinated action, there is a risk of reverting to humanitarian dependence, leaving millions in displacement without clear pathways out.— Marie McAuliffe, Head of Migration Research, IOM
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