Who — and where — are internally displaced persons (IDPs)?

With so many countries facing conflict and other humanitarian crises, we continue to live in an unprecedented time for forced displacement. However, while the global refugee crisis gets a lot of attention in the news, a larger one often takes place outside of the media spotlight. 

In fact, internally displaced persons (also known as IDPs and sometimes referred to as internally displaced people) make up the largest group of the world’s migration crisis: Of the 108.4 million people registered as displaced with the United Nations last year, 58% of those are internally displaced. Read on to learn more about what it means to be internally displaced, the challenges that IDPs face (and refugees don’t), and the ten largest internal displacement crises of 2024.

Internally displaced persons, explained

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been forced to flee their homes for their own safety. Unlike refugees, however, they do not cross an international border, living instead in their countries of origin. 

“Being a refugee is a last resort,” one of Concern’s former Senior Policy Officers said several years ago in our explainer on the differences between refugees, IDPs, and  migrants. However, many IDPs face even greater challenges than their refugee counterparts.

“Being a refugee is a last resort.”

The challenges of being an IDP

Although many IDPs face the same difficulties as refugees, they aren’t granted the same rights under international law. “Internally displaced person” is a descriptive term, not a legal one, so while assistance to refugees is a legal requirement, the principles on internal displacement are non-binding. 

IDPs still have rights, but some governments are unable or unwilling to honor those rights. This means that the largest population of displaced people is also in some ways the most vulnerable.

What are the largest internal displacement crises?

The UN updates its data annually on the largest refugee and internal displacement crises, but the numbers behind these crises shift greatly and frequently throughout the year. For the start of 2024, we’ve compiled this list using both the UNHCR Statistics Finder tool and the organization’s dedicated data portal. The latter is updated more often for developing crises (which, in 2023, included the crisis in Sudan and increased violence in DRC). 

The below list details the ten largest internal displacement crises, but many other countries where Concern works also have major crises of forced migration, including Burkina Faso (2.06 million internally displaced), South Sudan (2.02 million internally displaced) and Iraq (1.14 internally displaced).

10. Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s internally displaced community has quadrupled over the last decade, from 805,000 in 2014 to 3,252,741 in 2023. Internal displacement was at its highest in 2021, when an increase in conflict escalated the country’s protracted humanitarian crisis. Over 50% of internally-displaced Afghans are children under the age of 18—36% are under the age of 11. 

Concern has been in Afghanistan for over 20 years and serves as the UN’s chosen partner for the emergency response to displacement in the northeastern part of the country.

9. Ethiopia

Recent conflict in the Tigray Region combined with the lingering effects of drought in the Horn of Africa have forced 3,459,881 Ethiopians to live in displacement as of December 31, 2023 — a 62% increase compared to earlier in the year, and a 220% increase compared to 2017. The country has also taken in refugees escaping instability and violence from neighboring countries including Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea. 

Concern has been in Ethiopia for more than 50 years. Last year, we responded to 19 emergencies in Ethiopia that reflected the impact of both conflict and drought. Across these emergency responses, we reached nearly 800,000 people with cash transfers, food supplies, healthcare, and clean water and sanitation interventions. 

8. Nigeria

Conflict and insecurity across west and central Africa (including the Central African Republic, Mali, and Burkina Faso) has left over 7 million people in the region internally displaced. Nearly half of them — 3,485,827 as of June 2023 — are in Nigeria. Sadly, this trend has increased steadily since 2019. 

7. Ukraine

The escalation of conflict in Ukraine in 2022 led to a rapid migration, both internal and international. The UN’s estimates for 2023 vary, but place the number of internally-displaced Ukrainians somewhere between 3,674,000 and 5,088,000. It’s a wide margin, but also speaks to the movements of many internally displaced people, who may return home, even if only temporarily, as conflict becomes more protracted. 

Concern began responding to the crisis in Ukraine shortly after fighting began. Initially responding to the needs of refugees entering neighboring countries like Poland and Romania, we soon shifted towards meeting the needs of Ukrainians within their own country, particularly those displaced in the eastern oblasts.

6. Somalia

Somalia’s internally-displaced community exceeded 3 million people in 2023 — by nearly another million, with the UN estimating 3,860,099 Somalis still living in the country, but not at home. Nearly half of all internally-displaced Somalis are children under the age of 11; another 25% are women and adolescent girls. 

Concern has been in Somalia for over 35 years. One key program aimed at meeting the needs of internally-displaced people (especially women) is our Cash Consortium, which gives people the autonomy and dignity of being able to prioritize their own financial needs with cash transfers. We’ve distributed more than $16 million to over 300,000 people since the launch of the program.

5. Yemen

Now in its tenth year, the Yemeni Civil War led to a rapid displacement of civilians when fighting broke out in late 2014. With 334,093 internally-displaced earlier that year, the IDP population grew by over 650% in 2015. Today, the number of internally-displaced Yemenis sits at 4,523,022 — over ten times the pre-war population. Nearly 60% of these people are either children or elderly. 

Concern has previously partnered with fellow NGO ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) to design a program that focused on providing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services — along with some economic support to help with immediate needs — in Yemen. Last year, we returned to the country to build up programming designed to meet ongoing critical needs.

4. Sudan

As of January 15, 2024, nearly 7.7 million Sudanese (over 15%  of the country’s population) have been forcibly displaced due to conflict. Almost 80% of those people — 6,036,176 — are internally displaced. This is nearly double the population of IDPs prior to last April’s escalation of violence and crisis in Sudan. 

Concern has been in Sudan for 35 years and is currently responding to the escalated crisis there and neighboring Chad (where many Sudanese have been fleeing).

3. Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the world’s largest host communities for refugees escaping neighboring countries. However, it also represents one of the world’s largest refugee crises — and one of the largest internal-displacement crises. An upsurge of violence in 2023 left, at the end of the year, 6,298,436 Congolese internally displaced, largely in the east along the borders with Uganda and Tanzania. 

Concern has been responding to the DRC crisis for nearly 30 years, with emergency response among our top priorities. We work in partnership with the UNICEF RRMP (Rapid Response to Population Movement), the country’s largest emergency response program.

2. Colombia

It’s been nearly a decade since the 2016 Peace Agreement effectively ceased more than five decades of conflict in Colombia. However, armed violence continues in the country — which is also a host to refugees from neighboring countries in Latin America, particularly Venezuela. In fact, the country recorded over 1 million newly-displaced people since the Peace Agreement. The UN records it as the largest forced displacement crisis ever in the region, with the 6,903,993 people internally displaced within Colombia one key aspect of the issue. 

This year, the UNHCR and UNDP will be piloting a new approach to the IDP situation in Colombia, comprising humanitarian aid, development, and peacebuilding efforts. If it’s successful, it may serve as a new model for handling prolonged displacement in protracted conflict zones. 

1. Syria

The world’s largest refugee crisis is also the world’s largest internal displacement crisis in 2024. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, with over 60% of the country’s population displaced. This includes 7,248,188 internally-displaced Syrians, many of whom have faced multiple forced migrations over the last 13 years. According to the UN’s 2023 Humanitarian Needs Overview, 15.3 million people need humanitarian assistance — a 9% increase from the previous year, and one that reflects the scale of need created by these displacements. 

Since 2013, Concern has responded to the crisis in Syria, both within refugee communities in Türkiye, Lebanon, and Iraq, as well as within Syria itself. This included rapid response to the devastating 2023 earthquake that affected both Syria and Türkiye.

Concern’s work with refugees

Emergency response is part of Concern’s DNA and working with refugee communities in this context has become a core skill for our teams over the last six decades. 

We work with both refugee communities and host countries to ease the pressure that mass displacement can put on a host community. In addition to meeting the frontline needs  — including food, shelter, protection, and other non-food essentials — we also work with refugees on longer-term initiatives, including skill-building and livelihood development and psychosocial support. 

We also put a special focus on the needs of child refugees (who make up 40% of the global refugee population), including education, family support, and providing safe spaces where they can play and enjoy their childhood. 

In 2023, we responded to 66 emergencies in 20 countries, reaching nearly 15.5 million people. This included:

• Playing an essential role in NGO coordination in Chad and collaborating with a consortium of NGOs on the cross-border response to support Sudanese refugees. 
• Rehabilitating temporary shelters in Lebanon, including preparing them for harsh winter conditions, in communities hosting a total of 39,700 Syrian refugees.
• Working with nearly 84,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on ways of preventing malnutrition within their families.