UN report says Turkey now hosts nearly three million Syrians, with 47,000 more coming since February alone.

The number of refugees who have fled the war in Syria now exceeds five million with millions more displaced internally.

Syrians have poured across their borders since anti-government protests in 2011 spiralled into a full-blown conflict between rebels, government troops, and foreign backers.

"As the number of men, women and children fleeing six years of war in Syria passes the five million mark, the international community needs to do more to help them," the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a statement on Thursday.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Geneva, said the "enormity and colossal suffering" of the refugees is evident from the UNHCR report.

READ MORE: The harrowing evacuation of east Aleppo

The total number of Syrian refugees abroad stood at 4.6 million at the end of 2015 and rose to 4.85 million by the end of last year, according to the agency's data.

The first three months of 2017 saw more than 250,000 additional Syrians register as refugees bringing the total to 5.1 million, UNHCR said on its website, without providing an explanation for the apparent surge.

The agency estimated another 6.3 million people have been internally displaced.

Turkey continues to host the highest number of Syrians displaced by the conflict - nearly three million people. It saw an increase of 47,000 more refugees since February, Babar Baloch, a UNHCR spokesman, told AP news agency.

Lebanon has more than one million Syrian refugees, while Jordan has 657,000, with others spread across Iraq, Egypt and other North African countries.

Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher, reporting from Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, said the actual number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is much higher than the official figure, with more people streaming into the country in the last few weeks.

He said most of the new arrivals have not yet registered with the UN, and shortages of food and water is common.

War-torn Iraq also hosts 233,224 Syrian refugees in the Kurdish north.

Iraq itself has an estimated 3.5 million people internally displaced, according to Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid, reporting from east of Mosul.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have also fled to Europe, but not all have been granted refugee status.

Syrians have also fled to Europe in large numbers, making 884,461 asylum claims between April 2011 and October 2016. Almost two-thirds of the claims were in Germany and Sweden.

Hundreds of thousands more live in Gulf countries that are not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, so they are not recorded as refugees.

A UN-led humanitarian appeal to help Syrian refugees and support host communities has received only six percent of the money needed this year - $298mn out of $4.6bn target. </s> The tally of refugees who have fled the war in Syria now exceeds five million, the United Nations said on day. “As the number of men, women and children fleeing six years of war in Syria passes the five million mark, the international community needs to do more to help them,” the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a statement.

The total of Syrian refugees abroad stood at 4.6 million at the end of 2015 and rose to 4.85 million by the end of last year, according to the agency’s data.

The first three months of 2017 saw more than 250,000 additional Syrians register as refugees, UNHCR said on its website, without providing an explanation for the apparent surge.

Turkey continues to host the highest number of Syrians displaced by the conflict — nearly three million. Lebanon has over a million Syrian refugees, while Jordan has 657,000, with others spread across Iraq, Egypt and other North African countries. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have also fled to Europe, but not all of them have been granted refugee status.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now </s> The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt has passed 5 million for the first time in Syria's six-year conflict, data from the U.N. refugee agency showed on Thursday.

The number remained static at about 4.8 million through most of 2016, but has risen since the start of this year. Data collected by UNHCR and the government of Turkey put the latest total at 5,008,473, of which 488,531 were in camps. </s> More than 5 million Syrians have fled their country as it has been torn apart by civil war over the past six years, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday.

The announcement came one year after a conference in Geneva where countries promised to help resettle 500,000 refugees. Since then, only half of those refugees have found places to call home.

“We still have a long road to travel in expanding resettlement and the number and range of complementary pathways available for refugees,” Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in a statement.

While the world seeks ways to help Syrians seeking asylum, the war in Syria rages on. Half the country’s population has been displaced over the last six years, and nearly 400,000 people have been killed, according to the Associated Press .

No specific incident has prompted this marker of 5 million refugees, UN refugee agency spokesman Babar Baloch told the AP. Turkey has taken in the most Syrian refugees, according to the agency.

The United States previously said it would take in 64,000 refugees from Syria , Baloch told the AP, and those efforts are continuing while the country is involved in court battles over the Trump administration’s immigration policies. </s> Report released ahead of World Refugee Day shows a jump of 300,000 people uprooted over the past year.

A record 65.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes due to conflict or persecution by the end of 2016, the United Nations said.

The number marks a jump of 300,000 from the end of 2015, according to a new report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday.

This is "the highest figure since we started recording these figures," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi told reporters ahead of the report launch.

"By any measure, this is an unacceptable number, and it speaks louder than ever to the need for solidarity and common purpose in preventing and resolving crises," he said.

READ MORE: ‘Staggering’ increase in number of lone child refugees

The figures released ahead of World Refugee Day on Tuesday showed that 10.3 million of the world's displaced people fled their homes last year alone, including 3.4 million who crossed international borders to become refugees.

"This equates to one person becoming displaced every three seconds - less than the time it takes to read this sentence," UNHCR pointed out in a statement.

At the end of 2016, there were about 40.3 million internally displaced people in the world, down slightly from 40.8 million a year earlier, with Syria, Iraq and Colombia accounting for the greatest numbers.

Another 22.5 million people - half of them children - were registered as refugees last year, the UNHCR report showed, pointing out that this is "the highest level ever recorded".

Syrians continued to be the largest forcibly displaced population, with 12 million people at the end of 2016.

Syria's six-year conflict alone has sent more than 5.5 million people seeking safety in other countries, including 825,000 last year alone, accounting for the world's largest group of refugees.

READ MORE: Syria's civil war explained from the beginning

Along with the 6.3 million Syrians displaced inside the country, these numbers show that a nearly two thirds of all Syrians have been forced from their homes, the report said.

The Syrian conflict, which has killed more than 320,000 people, "is becoming a forgotten crisis," he warned.

The UN refugee chief also voiced alarm over the rapidly deteriorating situation in South Sudan, which he said was currently the world's "fastest growing refugee crisis and displacement crisis".

South Sudan's civil war, which began in December 2013, has left tens of thousands dead and forced a total of 3.7 million people from their homes - nearly a third of the population.

Overall, the refugee population from the world's youngest country swelled 85 percent last year to reach 1.4 million by the end of 2016, the UNHCR report showed.

Besides Syria and South Sudan, Monday's report also pointed to large-scale displacement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan.

And nearly 70 years after Palestinians first fled today's Israel, some 5.3 million Palestinians are currently living as refugees - the highest level ever recorded, UNHCR said.

The report showed despite huge focus on Europe's refugee crisis, it is the poorer countries that host most of the world's refugees.

For the third consecutive year, Turkey hosted the largest number of refugees worldwide, with 2.9 million people.

It was followed by Pakistan (1.4 million), Lebanon (1 million), Iran Iran (979,400), Uganda (940,800), and Ethiopia (791,600). </s> Devastating conflicts, violence and persecution in places like Syria and South Sudan had left a record 65.6 million people uprooted from their homes by the end of 2016, the U.N. said Monday.

That number marks a jump of just 300,000 from the end of 2015, but is more than six million higher than at the end of 2014, according to a fresh report published by the U.N. refugee agency.

This is "the highest figure since we started recording these figures," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi told reporters ahead of the report launch.

"By any measure, this is an unacceptable number, and it speaks louder than ever to the need for solidarity and common purpose in preventing and resolving crises," he said.

The figures released ahead of World Refugee Day showed that a full 10.3 million of the world's displaced people fled their homes last year alone, including 3.4 million who crossed international borders to become refugees.

"This equates to one person becoming displaced every three seconds -- less than the time it takes to read this sentence," UNHCR pointed out in a statement.

Most people who have been forced from their homes flee within their own country, and are defined as internally displaced people, or IDPs.

At the end of 2016, there were some 40.3 million IDPs in the world, down slightly from 40.8 million a year earlier, with Syria, Iraq and Colombia accounting for the greatest numbers.

Another 22.5 million people -- half of them children -- were registered as refugees last year, the UNHCR report showed, pointing out that this is "the highest level ever recorded."

Syria's six-year conflict alone has sent more than 5.5 million people seeking safety in other countries, including 825,000 last year alone, making it the world's biggest producer of refugees.

Along with the 6.3 million Syrians displaced inside the country, these numbers show that a nearly two thirds of all Syrians have been forced from their homes, the report said.

As the Syrian civil war rages on, desperately needed funding for humanitarian aid in the country has begun to dwindle, Grandi said, lamenting that very little of the billions promised at an international donor's conference in Brussels in April had so far materialized.

The Syrian conflict, which has killed more than 320,000 people, "is becoming a forgotten crisis," he warned.

The U.N. refugee chief meanwhile voiced most alarm over the rapidly deteriorating situation in South Sudan, which he said was currently the world's "fastest growing refugee crisis and displacement crisis."

South Sudan's civil war, which began in December 2013, has left tens of thousands dead and forced a total of 3.7 million people from their homes -- nearly a third of the population.

Overall, the refugee population from the world's youngest country swelled 85 percent last year to reach 1.4 million by the end of 2016, the UNHCR report showed.

And that number has ballooned by a further half million people since then, the agency said, stressing the most of the refugees had left since the "disastrous breakdown of peace efforts" last July.

Syria and South Sudan were far from the only countries where people were being uprooted en masse, with Monday's report also pointing to large-scale displacement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, just to name a few.

And nearly 70 years after Palestinians first fled today's Israel, some 5.3 million Palestinians are currently living as refugees -- the highest level ever recorded, UNHCR said.

Monday's report also pointed out that, despite huge focus on Europe's migrant crisis, it is poorer countries that host most of the world's refugees.

A full 84 percent of refugees are living in low- and middle-income countries, UNHCR said, blaming this "huge imbalance" on "the continuing lack of consensus internationally when it comes to refugee hosting and the proximity of many poor countries to regions of conflict." </s> The number of Syrians who have fled their country after six years of civil war has risen above 5 million, the UN's refugee agency says.

The UNHCR announced the milestone on March 30, a year after the international community pledged to "resettle and facilitate pathways for 500,000 refugees" to alleviate the burden on countries neighboring Syria.

But only half of those places have been allocated so far, a statement says.

The first three months of 2017 saw more than 250,000 additional Syrians registered as refugees, the UNHCR says, without providing an explanation for the surge.

Turkey continues to host the highest number of displaced Syrians -- nearly 3 million.

In addition to the 5 million men, women, and children who have fled the war in Syria, the UN agency estimates another 6.3 million people have been internally displaced.

Based on reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters </s> A boy rests on the grass during a visit of UNCHR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi to a new site for displaced people outside of the U.N. protected camp, in Bentiu, South Sudan Sunday, June 18, 2017. Thousands of South Sudanese now live in U.N. protected camps, including eighty percent of Bentiu's population. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

GENEVA (AP) — The number of people displaced from their homes across the world due to war and persecution climbed slightly to a record 65.6 million last year, with the escalating conflict in South Sudan largely accounting for the rise, the United Nations refugee agency said Monday.

The figure that includes refugees, asylum seekers and people uprooted inside their own countries was some 300,000 higher at the end of last year than at the end of 2015, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said. That was a smaller increase than in the four previous years, prompting the U.N. agency to warn against complacency.

"Although these figures represent small shifts compared to the previous year ... the relatively stable figures mask a very unstable situation," agency chief Filippo Grandi said ahead of the official release of the report Monday. "This is becoming a forgotten crisis."

Of the total, some 10.3 million people were newly displaced in 2016, around two-thirds fleeing within their own countries, according to an annual report by the group. The total refugee population — people who fled their home countries — was about 22.5 million people, and nearly half of those were children. In Germany, which vastly expanded its acceptance of people fleeing war from places like Syria, the number of refugees doubled to over 600,000 last year.

Syria's six-year civil war remained the largest single cause of displacement, with 12 million people — around two-thirds of the population — either uprooted within the country or fleeing abroad, the group said.

They were followed by some 7.7 million Colombians, 4.7 million Afghans, 4.2 million Iraqis and 3.3 million South Sudanese.

Turkey, which has taken in the largest number of Syrians, to a total of 2.9 million at the end of 2015. It has since exceeded 3 million.

Syria is the only country in which a majority of the population is forcibly displaced. South Sudan, with a little over a quarter, has the next-biggest proportion — and fastest growing displaced population overall, the agency said. By the end of 2016, 3.3 million people from the world's newest country had fled their homes, more than half to neighboring countries.

"The international neglect that you see here is matched nowhere else in the world," Grandi told The Associated Press on Sunday while visiting South Sudan's largest internally displaced camp in the town of Bentiu. "Wherever you look there are dead ends."

Thousands of South Sudanese now live in U.N protected camps, including 80 percent of Bentiu's population.

The figures are based on the agency's own data and on numbers reported by governments and non-governmental organizations.

Moulson reported from Berlin. Sam Mednick in Bentiu, South Sudan, contributed to this report. </s> The number of Syrians who have fled their country after six years of war has surpassed the five-million mark, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday.
• Over 650 children were killed in Syria last year, UNICEF says
• Syrian children show symptoms of 'toxic stress' after 6 years of war, report says

The UN announced the milestone a year after participating countries at a Geneva conference pledged to "resettle and facilitate pathways for 500,000 refugees" from Syria — but that only half of those places have been allocated so far.

"We still have a long road to travel in expanding resettlement and the number and range of complementary pathways available for refugees," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. "To meet this challenge, we not only need additional places, but also need to accelerate the implementation of existing pledges."

Agency spokesman Babar Baloch said that no specific incident prompted the crossing of the symbolic milestone, and that one year ago, the figure was 4.8 million. The agency estimates another 6.3 million people have been internally displaced.

Turkey, which has taken in the most Syrians by far, saw an increase of 47,000 Syrian refugees since February — bringing its total to 2.97 million, Baloch said. Lebanon and Jordan have taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

The United States has the world's largest resettlement program and has pledged to make 64,000 places available for Syrians, Baloch said. The Trump administration has sought to reduce the program, though Baloch said the agency's efforts to help resettle Syrians in the U.S. are continuing amid U.S. court battles over the issue.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the total number of refugees from Syria reaches over five million.