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I am trying to find figures for the number of refugees in various countries. I am looking at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center's website here, and I see this for India:

I am very confused by the figures. How is it possible for there to be almost 3 million new displacements in 2018, but yet only 479,000 internally displaced persons at the end of the year? If people are uprooted and find a new home, are they not considered as displaced anymore? Does the 479,000 figure measure how many people were left homeless at the end of the year after being uprooted, or what?

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  • Did you read "How to read our figures"?
    – Trilarion
    Aug 4 '19 at 10:00
  • @Trilarion Yes, but I didn't read carefully. I just thought it said, in elongated phrases, "total number of IDP's."
    – Ovi
    Aug 4 '19 at 12:17
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The red "total number of IDPs" is the total number of people living in internal displacement as a result of conflict and violence as of 31 December 2018.

So there were 169000 new displacements as a result of conflict, and 479000 people living in internal displacement due to ongoing conflict at the end of the year. There may well be more people who have been displaced due to natural disasters, that figure is not given in the infographic.

Displacement due to seasonal flooding (and other natural disasters) tends to be temporary and people return after the floods subside. Displacement due to violence tends to be long lasting, as the political conditions for violence can continue for a long time.

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  • Ah okay thanks! If I can ask, did you read that somewhere? Or are you just assuming that most displacement due to natural disasters is temporary, and wouldn't be a significant part of the 479,000?
    – Ovi
    Aug 3 '19 at 14:59
  • @Ovi did you click the "how to read our figures" link?
    – phoog
    Aug 3 '19 at 15:13
  • @phoog OH. Yes, but I didn't read carefully. I just thought it said, in elongated phrases, "total number of IDP's." Stupid me.
    – Ovi
    Aug 3 '19 at 16:29

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