Study Reports 23 Million Refugees

Driven by war, famine, poverty and persecution, nearly 4 million people fled their homes last year, bringing the world’s official refugee population to an all-time high of 23 million.

The figure represents a tenfold increase in two decades, according to a report released Saturday by Worldwatch Institute. It stressed that traditional responses to the crisis, such as providing humanitarian relief for the displaced, are proving increasingly inadequate.

“It’s expensive to wait until crises happen. It’s much more cost-effective to invest in prevention,” said Hal Kane, the report’s author. “Recognizing that this situation is becoming unmanageable should compel policy-makers to address the longstanding causes--not just the symptoms--of unprecedented human migration.”

No single factor caused the surge in numbers of rootless people, Kane said. Instead, the interplay of elements ranging from political instability to population growth, even ecological problems, usually culminates in a “volatile cocktail” of forces that drive people from their homes.

Currently, 34 conflicts are raging in the world, twice as many as during the 1960s, and civilian losses account for a growing majority of casualties, the report said. Over the past decade, more children--more than 2 million--have died in civil strife than soldiers.