More than 4 million Syrians have fled the country since the 2011 outbreak of civil war, the largest number from any crisis in almost 25 years, the United Nations said Thursday.
The 4 million refugees are the most to flee a conflict since the Afghan civil war forced 4.6 million out of their country beginning in 1992.
A recent wave of people leaving Syria and an update of Turkish statistics confirmed the tragic milestone, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. The agency said 7.6 million additional people have been displaced from their homes within Syria by the fighting.
“This is the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said. “It is a population that needs the support of the world but is instead living in dire conditions and sinking deeper into poverty.”
The flow of refugees is accelerating only 10 months after the agency said more than 3 million Syrians had fled their country.
— AP
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