BERLIN -- The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human-rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, the U.N. refugee agency said Monday.
"One hundred million is a stark figure -- sobering and alarming in equal measure," said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. "It's a record that should never have been set.
"This must serve as a wake-up call to resolve and prevent destructive conflicts, end persecution and address the underlying causes that force innocent people to flee their homes," Grandi added.
The agency reported that the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide approached 90 million by the end of 2021, propelled by new waves of violence or protracted conflict in countries including Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Burma, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Congo.
Since then, the war in Ukraine has forced more than 6 million people to flee the country and another 8 million are displaced within Ukraine.
The 100 million figure represents more than 1% of the global population and comprises refugees and asylum-seekers as well as people displaced inside their own countries by conflict -- a figure the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre recently put at 53.2 million -- a statement from the agency read.
"The international response to people fleeing war in Ukraine has been overwhelmingly positive," Grandi said. "Compassion is alive and we need a similar mobilization for all crises around the world."
However, Grandi pointed out that ultimately, "humanitarian aid is a palliative, not a cure."
"To reverse this trend, the only answer is peace and stability so that innocent people are not forced to gamble between acute danger at home or precarious flight and exile," Grandi said.
FILE - Refugees, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, face off with South African Police officers, at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) compound in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Elna Schutz, File)
FILE - South Sudanese refugees Victoria Sunday, 5, center, and brother Abraham Wani, 7, right, sit by a tree waiting to be taken to a transit center, after crossing from Congo to Uganda at the Saliamusala crossing, near Kuluba, in northern Uganda Thursday, June 8, 2017. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File
FILE - A girl plays football in a refugee camp outside Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, May 4, 2022. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)
FILE - Children draw in a restaurant transformed into a shelter for those who are fleeing the war from the eastern region of the country in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 20, 2022. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
FILE - Rohingya refugees wait on naval ships to be transported to an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal, in Chittagong, Bangladesh, on Dec. 29, 2020. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu, File)
FILE - Rohingya refugees bathe at a hand water pump at Kutupalong refugee camp, where they have been living amid uncertainty over their future after they fled Myanmar to escape violence a year ago, in Bangladesh, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)
FILE - Rohingya refugee children play at a hand water pump at Balukhali Refugee Camp in Bangladesh, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)
FILE - Rohingya refugee girl Azida plays on a makeshift swing tied to World Food Program (WFP) containers inside Balukhali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, in Bangladesh, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)
FILE - Tigrayan refugee Abraha Kinfe Gebremariam, 40, uses a flashlight to check on his 4-month-old twin daughters, Aden and Turfu, after praying at a church early in the morning, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, near the border with Ethiopia, on March 21, 2021. The number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution has crossed the milestone of 100 million for the first time on record, propelled by the war in Ukraine and other deadly conflicts, The U.N. refugee agency said Monday, May 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)