Refugees are as old as warfare, but it wasn’t until 1960 that the UN began to track refugees by their country of origin. People leaving their nations and migrating to other countries has increased at an alarming rate since 1960, by a total of more than 200 million displaced refugees around the world. Only this decade, registered nearly double the number of refugees around the world compared to the beginning of the last decade.

According to the UNHCR, over 84 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes. Among them are over 26.6 million refugees, the highest population on record. 68% of the world’s refugees come from just 5 countries. Half of these refugees are children.

What is even more impactful, is that 85% of refugees are being hosted in developing countries. The international community, and in particular wealthy nations, are failing to meaningfully share the responsibility for protecting people who have fled their homes in search of safety. Instead, lower- and middle-income countries are doing much more than their fair share — hosting more than double the number of refugees that high-income countries are.

Therefore, the world and most importantly, the developed countries, urgently need a new global plan based on genuine international cooperation and a meaningful and fair sharing of responsibilities.

Developed countries should ease the pressure on internal policies and host refugees coming from developing countries with war or socio-economic and political crisis.

Wealthier countries should work to share the cost of protecting people who have left everything behind and fund humanitarian organizations for the assistance of refugees.