East and South Asia were the most affected regions.
“At the country level, Bangladesh, China, India, the Philippines and the US recorded the highest figures over the past decade,” the report said.
China recorded 46.9 million internal displacements and the Philippines 46.1 million.
The report said that nearly 90 per cent of global disaster displacements were the result of floods and storms.
“Storms triggered most of the world’s disaster displacements between 2015 and 2024, accounting for 120.9 million movements,” it said.
Floods triggered 114.8 million displacements during the same period.
Cyclones, including Amphan in 2020, accounted for about 92 per cent of all storm displacements globally.
The report said disasters have triggered an increasing number of internal displacements since 2015, the result in part of more frequent and intense hazards but also improved data at the national level and better monitoring capacity at the global level.
In 2024 alone, 45.8 million internal displacements were recorded, the highest on record and far above the decadal average of 26.5 million.
India recorded 5.4 million (54 lakh) displacements last year due to floods, storms and other disasters, the highest figure in 12 years.
The report said many of the displacements were preemptive evacuations, testimony to the efforts of governments and local communities in disaster-prone countries to save lives and prevent injuries.
However, “millions of people remain displaced for months or years after fleeing major storms, floods and other natural hazards”.
The IDMC emphasised that disaster displacement “affects the most vulnerable more severely”.
“They are often forced to flee repeatedly and for longer periods of time, which heightens their pre-existing vulnerabilities and reinforces social inequalities,” it said.
It warned that under current climate conditions, an annual average of 32 million people worldwide are likely to be displaced by riverine and coastal floods, drought and cyclonic winds in any given future year.
That risk increases by 100 per cent if Earth’s average temperature rises by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the start of the industrial revolution (1850-1890), it said.
The 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold is a target that countries agreed to at the Paris climate conference in 2015 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
“Left unaddressed, disaster displacement will be a major obstacle to the achievement of global goals, such as those set by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” the report said. PTI GVS RC
