World Refugee Population at Post-WWII High, Says New Study

More people are now displaced by war and other crises than any other time since the end of World War II, according to a study released Wednesday.

“Almost 1 percent of the world’s population (are) now refugees or internally displaced (IDPs), the highest level since 1945, and numbers expected to increase,” said the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEA). The findings were included in the IEA's 2015 Global Peace Index, which tracks the state of war and violence globally.

“Despite ongoing improvements in peace in many countries, the number and intensity of armed conflicts increased dramatically with a 267 percent rise in the number of deaths from conflict since 2010, creating unprecedented levels of refugees,” the IEA stated.

The think tank estimated the global number of deaths from armed conflicts increased from 49,000 in 2010, to around 180,000 in 2014.

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The index pointed out the Middle East as the region where conflicts are most spiraling out of control.

One of the worst conflicts for civilians is now Syria's four-year-old civil war which has displaced a “staggering” 13 million people, according to IEA director Steve Killelea.

“One in every 130 people on the planet is currently a refugee or displaced and most of that comes out of conflicts in the Middle East,” he told Bloomberg.

The 2015 Global #PeaceIndex has just been released. Explore the data on the interactive map: http://t.co/r1ZqWrS52q pic.twitter.com/dFnefguq25

— Economics & Peace (@GlobPeaceIndex) June 17, 2015

Along with growing numbers of war casualties and refugees, the global financial price tag of armed conflicts is also on the rise, Killelea explained.

“If global violence were to decrease by 10 percent uniformly, an additional US$1.43 trillion would effectively be added to the world economy. To put this in perspective, this is more than six times the total value of Greece’s bailout and loans from the IMF, ECB and other eurozone countries combined,” Killelea stated.

“Reducing conflict is a crucial plank in ensuring continued world economic recovery,” he added.

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