What pushed the number of displaced people down?

Global displacement decreased by 1.7 million people in 2023, marking the first decline in a decade. This reduction was primarily driven by a significant return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia, who accounted for 1.4 million of the total decrease. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reported that the number of people forced to flee their homes globally stood at 117.3 million at the end of 2023, down from 119 million at the end of 2022. The NRC's Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) attributed the overall decrease to the return of 1.1 million IDPs in Ethiopia, largely due to improved security and humanitarian access following the peace agreement signed in November 2022. Other contributing factors to the global decline included returns in Sudan, which saw 200,000 people return to their homes, and in Syria, where 100,000 IDPs were able to return. However, the report also highlighted that new displacement continued to rise in other regions, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine, offsetting some of the gains made elsewhere. The total number of displaced people still represents a substantial increase from 30.9 million in 2013, underscoring the persistent challenges of conflict and climate change.