AKIPRESS.COM - The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that forced displacement of people, mostly from the conflict zones, has reached record levels. The agency claimed that as many as 65.3 million people were forced to either turn into refugees or asylum seekers or had to flee their homes in 2015, according to International Business Times.

In a new report titled Global Trends, UN estimates showed that one person from 113 was displaced during the 12-month period. This was a sharp increase by five million compared to the earlier year.

Most refugees hail from conflict zones in war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Somalia. More than one-third of the 65.3 million people displaced were forced to flee their home countries while the rest managed to find a place elsewhere within their countries. This is the first time the numbers clocked the 60 million mark.

The report was released on World Refugee Day to highlight the unparalleled crisis toiling several continents. It also warned that 24 people, on average, were forcibly displaced from their homes every minute in 2015. This has been witnessed for the first time since the Second World War.

The research said as many as 86% of the refugees are being taken care by low- and middle-income countries.