Number of Children Displaced by Conflict Reached Record High in 2025

LONDON/GENEVA (May 14, 2026) – The number of people displaced by conflict globally reached an all-time high of 32.3 million last year, impacting an estimated 13 million children.

New data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) show that internal displacements increased by 60% last year, from 20 million in 2024 to 32 million in 2025. Based on the IDMC’s percentage of child population per country, the estimated number of children displaced is 13 million, or over 35,000 per day.^[1]  

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, Iran, and the occupied Palestinian territory, were among the countries where violence and conflict led to the most displacements of children last year. The IDMC defines an internal displacement as each time a person is forced to move within their home country, with some people forced to move several times.  

Salama*, 35, struggled to care for her seven children after being forced to flee her home in eastern DRC due to violence, leaving behind the family's land and belongings. The family is among some 5.6 million people including about 2.5 million children who have been displaced by the conflict in the DRC. ^[2]

“We left everything behind: cooking pots, clothes, mattresses. We had to start again from nothing,” said Salama. “Life here is very difficult, especially when you don’t have land.”  

One of her children, Gabriel*, aged 1, became critically ill, first with measles and later with severe acute malnutrition. With the support of community health workers and services supported by Save the Children, Gabriel was referred for free medical care, allowing him to gradually recover, although the family continues to face daily challenges linked to displacement and poverty.  

The rise in displacement comes as more children than ever are growing up surrounded by war and violence.  A report by Save the Children in 2025 revealed that a record 520 million children were living in active conflict zones in 2024, or over one in five globally, which is up 60% since 2010. UN verified incidents of killing, maiming, sexual assault and other grave violations against children surged 373% in the same period showing the increasing brutality of conflicts for children.^[3]  

In 2025, 32.7 million children were living in internal displacement – more than four in five of these due to conflict and violence, ^[4] while over 19 million children were living outside their countries as refugees or asylum seekers, according to the latest data from 2024.^[5]  

Melinda van Zyl, Save the Children’s senior advisor on migration and displacement, said:    

“Last year, an estimated more than 35,000 children each day on average were forced to flee their homes due to conflict and violence – with some children in places like DRC, Gaza and Sudan forced to leave their homes two, three or even more times.  

“The statistics are staggering, but a displaced child is not just a number. Behind each number is a child who has most likely witnessed the kind of violence or destruction no child should ever have to see, before having to leave behind everything that they know, including their schools, their friends, and their communities to face an uncertain future.  

“States must act decisively to prevent conflict, promote peace, and protect children from displacement, while ensuring accountability.  They must also guarantee safe, sustained humanitarian access, and make sure that displaced children living in conflict zones, as well as those who have fled from violence have access to humanitarian aid and long-term solutions that take children's needs into account."

Save the Children is the world’s largest independent child rights organization, reaching tens of millions of children annually in about 110 countries through its work to save and improve children’s lives.  

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*Names changed for anonymity  

Notes:

[1] IDMC's 2026 Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID) found that there were 32.3 million internal displacements globally in 2025 due to conflict and violence. To estimate child shares, Save the Children applied age disaggregation percentages from IDMC datasets. Since this disaggregation applies to the total internally displaced population in each country rather than new displacements, these numbers are not exact. Multiplying the percentages of displaced children in each country by the total number of displacements, 13 million children are estimated to have been displaced in 2025.

[2] https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/republique-democratique-du-congo-personnes-deplacees-internes-et-retournees-fevrier-2026; https://www.unicef.org/drcongo/communique-presse/directeur-regional-appelle-mobilisation-renforcee-rdc  

[3] Report: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/stop-the-war-on-children-security-for-whom-2025 and press release:  https://www.savethechildren.net/news/crimes-against-children-conflict-surged-30-2024-worst-ever-level  

[4] Calculated from the end of year IDP populations with age breakdown in IDMC’s 2026 Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID).  

[5] https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-migration-and-displacement/displacement/