Global refugee figure passes 50m for first time since second world war --- UNHCR report says more than half of those displaced are children, with aid organisations reaching breaking point -- The number of people forced to flee their homes across the world has exceeded 50 million for the first time since the second world war, an exponential rise that is stretching host countries and aid organisations to breaking point, according to figures released on Friday. -- Half the world's refugees are children, many travelling alone or in groups in a desperate quest for sanctuary, and often falling into the clutches of people traffickers, the annual UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) global trends report said. -- More than 25,000 unaccompanied children lodged asylum applications in 77 countries last year, a fraction of the number of displaced minors across the globe. ---"We are witnessing a quantum leap in forced displacement in the world," António Guterres, head of the UN's refugee agency, said as figures for 2013 showed a total of 51.2 million refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people. If displaced people had their own country it would be the 24th most populous in the world. --- The increase of 6 million over the 2012 figures has mainly been driven by the war in Syria. By the end of last year, 2.5 million Syrians had fled across the country's borders and 6.5 million were internally displaced – more than 40% of the population. -- Conflicts in the Central African Republic and South Sudan also contributed to rising numbers. -- The data represented "a world where peace is dangerously in deficit", said Guterres. "And that peace deficit represents the incapacity of the international community firstly to prevent conflicts and secondly, to find solutions to those conflicts." • Refugees – 16.7 million people worldwide. Apart from 5 million Palestinians, the biggest refugee populations by source country are Afghans, Syrians and Somalis, which together account for half the total. The main host countries were Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Eighty-six per cent of the world's refugees are hosted by developing countries – up from 70% a decade ago. -- • Asylum seekers – close to 1.2 million people submitted asylum claims, mostly in developed countries. In terms of country of origin, the highest number was from Syria (64,300), followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (60,400) and Burma (57,400). Germany was the largest recipient. -- • Internally displaced people – a record 33.3 million were forced to flee their homes but remained within their country's borders. - More, Harriet Sherwood http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/20/global-refugee-figure-passes-50-million-unhcr-report