Number of refugees falls, displacement rising: UN

In the latest edition of its Global Refugee Trends report, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the overall number of exiles dropped from 9.5 million in 2004 to 8.4 million last year, as large-scale returns to former conflict zones offset flight from other crises.

Much of the increase was due to a rise in the number of people living in "refugee-like situations" within their own countries, said the agency.

"We're finding lasting solutions for millions of refugees through voluntary repatriation, through local integration in countries of first asylum, and through resettlement to third countries," said UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres.

"But the bad news is that the international community still has a long way to go in resolving the plight of millions of internally displaced people in places like Darfur, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo."

The 2005 statistics show five nationalities accounting for nearly half of the total population of concern to UNHCR: Afghans, Colombians, Iraqis, Sudanese and Somalis.

Last year saw the smallest outflow of new refugees since 1976 -- 136,000 people, or some 46 percent fewer than in 2004 -- said the UNHCR.

The largest numbers came from Togo (39,000), Sudan (35,000), the Democratic Republic of Congo (16,000), Somalia (14,000), the Central African Republic (12,000) and Iraq (11,000).

However, the annual global count of uprooted people rose last year to nearly 21 million from 19.5 million in 2004 said the UNHCR.

The vast majority of the world's uprooted people -- refugees and internally displaced alike -- remain in developing nations.

With more than two million internally displaced, Colombia hosted the largest number, followed by Iraq (1.6 million), Pakistan (1.1 million), Sudan (one million) and Afghanistan (912,000).

The number of people seeking asylum last year totalled 668,000 in 149 countries, down 2.0 percent over 2004 when 680,000 applications were lodged globally. Most were registered in Europe (374,000), Africa (125,000), Asia-Pacific (75,000), and the Americas (72,000).