Mid-year figures: Internal displacement in 2018

This report provides an overview of the internal displacements caused by conflicts and violence, and disasters. There were about 5.2 million new internal displacements associated with conflict and violence in the first half of 2018, based on the analysis of data from the 10 worst-affected countries. There were also about 3.3 million associated with disasters in 110 countries and territories. Sub-Saharan Africa was disproportionately affected by displacement associated with conflict and violence, accounting for six of the 10 countries with the highest figures. Countries in the Horn of Africa bore the brunt of displacement more broadly. On top of more than 1.7 million new displacements associated with conflict and violence in Ethiopia and Somalia, significant numbers of people fled devastating floods and drought in both countries.

The report also analyses four specific countries: Ethiopia, where new conflict in the south of the country triggered more new displacements than in any other country; Yemen, where significant displacement continues as the country’s conflict enters its third year; the Horn of Africa, where extreme flooding after an extended period of drought caused hundreds of thousands of new displacements in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya; and the impact of tropical cyclone Gita, which caused displacement and major damages in New Zealand, as well as the small island states of American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga. These countries were not among the 10 worst affected by displacement associated with disasters, but they highlight its significant relative impact on small island states.