Global Report on Internal Displacement 2025

Regional Overviews

​South Asia
After drier conditions associated with El Niño in 2023, the number of disaster displacements in South Asia nearly tripled in 2024 to reach 9.2 million. The figure was the second highest for the region in more than a decade and represented nearly a quarter of the global total. A combination of storms and monsoon floods led to some of the highest figures in years in some countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India. 
 
Conflict and violence triggered about 11,000 displacements, a six-fold decrease compared with 2023 and below the annual average of 437,000 of the past decade. Most were the result of communal violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan as clashes along their border forced people to flee. 
 
Around 7.1 million people across the region were living in internal displacement as a result of conflict and disasters at the end of the year, down from 8.1 million in 2023. Afghanistan had the largest number of IDPs by far with 5.5 million. 
 
Floods trigger most disaster displacements 
As El Niño conditions started to transition to La Niña, a wetter than average monsoon season caused major floods across several countries, which triggered 6.1 million disaster displacements, 66 per cent of the regional total and the second highest figure since 2012. Storms triggered 2.7 million, the majority in India and Bangladesh during the cyclone season. 
 
India recorded the highest figure with 5.4 million movements, two-thirds of which were triggered by floods. Assam state was the worst affected. Storms, including major cyclones, triggered 1.6 million. 
 
More than a million movements were associated with cyclone Dana, which formed in the Bay of Bengal in late October and forced people to flee in Odisha and West Bengal states. Most took the form of pre-emptive evacuations in response to alerts from the India Meteorological Department, which prompted state authorities to close schools, set up thousands of shelters and coordinate the movement of hundreds of thou- sands of people.
 
These measures, coupled with nature- based solutions, including high mangrove cover in some areas, mitigated Dana’s impacts. No casualties were reported in Odisha, confirming that disaster risk management can make a positive difference, and that displacement can serve to reduce the number of injuries and lives lost.
 
West Bengal had been hit earlier in the year by cyclone Remal, which formed in the Bay of Bengal on 24 May and triggered around 208,000 displacements. In this case too, early warnings allowed the government to evacuate 150,000 people. Shelters were gradually closed a month after the event as people started to return home. As Remal moved north, it caused the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries to overflow, triggering about 338,000 displacements in Assam.
 
Tripura state witnessed its worst monsoon season in more than 40 years. Heavy rains caused landslides in more than 2,000 locations in mid-August, which altogether triggered 315,000 displacements, one of the highest figures on record for this hazard type. Roads were blocked, hampering the delivery of aid. A combination of floods and landslides forced three-quarters of the population of Gomati and South Tripura districts from their homes.
 
The number of disaster displacements in neighbouring Bangladesh rose for the fourth year in a row to reach 2.4 million, its third highest figure on record, superseded only by the 2019 monsoon floods and the combined impacts of floods and cyclone Amphan in 2020. Similarly to India, a wetter monsoon and the impacts of major storms explain the rising trend. 
 
Monsoon floods in 2024 triggered about 1.3 million movements, particularly in Sylhet division where 723,000 took place in June alone. Factors such as unplanned urban expansion, impermeable land cover and blocked drainage canals increased the severity of the floods. They were also aggravated by cyclone Remal, which overwhelmed the capacity of several river basins to discharge water when the monsoon rains arrived. Remal brought heavy rainfall and wind speeds of up to 111 km/h that caused storm surges and coastal and inland flooding. Nearly 80 per cent of the nearly 1.1 million movements it triggered were pre-emptive evacuations. Local and national authorities transmitted early warnings and established more than 9,000 emergency shelters.
 
The remaining movements took place during the cyclone, particularly in Barisal, Chattogram and Khulna divisions. Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar were also hard hit. At least 150,000 homes were destroyed across the country, leaving 172,000 people still living in displacement as of the end of the year. 
 
Afghanistan recorded a million flood displacements between mid-April and August across three-quarters of the country’s provinces, with Badakhshan, Baghlan and Takhar the worst affected. It was by far the highest disaster displacement figure on record for the country. 
 
Some areas were cut off by rising waters and damaged roads and bridges, limiting IDPs’ access to healthcare and other assistance. Thousands of displaced farmers lost their crops and livestock as around 10,000 hectares of agricultural land were destroyed. IDPs and returnees from Pakistan who were living in shelters were also impacted by the floods.
 
The disaster stretched the authorities’ capacity to respond and prompted them to call for international assistance. Many areas had previously been affected by four consecutive years of drought, which had reduced agricultural production, heightened food insecurity and eroded people’s resilience.
 
Around 1.3 million people were living in internal displacement in Afghanistan as a result of disasters at the end of 2024, the highest figure globally, in part because of greater data availability. The combined effects of economic hardship, disasters and protracted conflict displacement continued to impede IDPs’ efforts to achieve durable solutions.
 
Pakistan recorded 169,000 disaster displacements, significantly fewer than in the previous two years. Monsoon floods in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces triggered the overwhelming majority between July and September. Nearly 79,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, with IDPs having to move to overcrowded shelters, which increased the risk of sanitation and health issues.
 
The same provinces were worst affected by the 2022 floods, from which they were still struggling to recover. Some damaged homes, schools and public buildings had still not been rebuilt, and many farmers had since gone bankrupt.
 
In an effort to build resilience in the three provinces, the government, in partnership with international organisations, launched a $77.8 million ecosystem-based adaptation project in September 2024 intended to mitigate flood risk and the impact of future events.
 
Fewer conflict displacements, but millions still uprooted 
The number of displacements triggered by conflict and violence in South Asia continued to fall in 2024, but 5.3 million people were still uprooted, having fled previous conflicts. Afghanistan accounted for almost 80 per cent of the total with 4.2 million, the fifth largest number of people internally displaced by conflict and violence globally, but obtaining updated estimates remained a challenge. 
 
There has been a significant decrease in fighting and displacement since foreign forces withdrew from the country and the Taliban took over the government in 2021, but localised violence forced people to flee in 2024, notably along the border with Pakistan where around 3,200 movements were recorded. Most took place in Khost province.
 
In Pakistan, communal violence over land disputes broke out in July in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, triggering 3,500 displacements in Kurram district. A ceasefire was agreed at the end of the year, but over 3,400 people were still displaced as 2024 concluded.
 
India recorded 1,700 displacements associated with violence, fewer than in 2023 when communal violence escalated in the north-eastern state of Manipur. Further violent incidents in Manipur, including the burning of homes, triggered 1,000 movements.
 
Global Report on Internal Displacement 2025. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Norwegian Refugee Council. Geneva, Switzerland.