66,000 a day forced to abandon their homes.

• Position: Disaster Displacement

Conflict, violence, and disasters internally displaced 27,800,000 people in 2015, subjecting a record number of men, women, and children to the trauma and upheaval of being forcibly uprooted within their own country. "This is the equivalent of the combined populations of New York, London, Paris, and Cairo grabbing what they can carry, often in a state of panic, and setting out on a journey filled with uncertainty," notes Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. "Put another way, around 66,000 people abandoned their homes every day of 2015."

"By reporting on all situations of internal displacement, regardless of their cause, our intention is to provide an ever more holistic picture of what has truly become a global crisis," says Alexandra Bilak, director of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Geneva, Switzerland.

The report covers internal displacement caused by conflict and sudden-onset disasters. It also explores displacement currently "off the grid," such as that caused by criminal and gang violence, slow-onset disasters like drought, and development projects. It also goes "inside the grid" and presents some of the methodological and conceptual challenges faced in trying to paint as complete a picture as possible.

The report makes sobering reading. Some 8,600,000 new displacements associated with conflict and violence were recorded in 2015 and, as of the end of the year, the total including those who fled in previous years stood at 40,800,000. "This is the highest figure ever recorded, and twice the number of refugees worldwide," Egeland states.

The Middle East and North Africa bore the brunt of new conflict-related displacement in 2015, with 4,800,000 people internally...