Climate refugees: in 2024 the highest number ever recorded. One of the EU’s key political issues resurfaces

Brussels – Climate refugees, an issue that remains all too topical and yet lacks future-proof measures. The European Parliament’s Research Service has updated data on a phenomenon that has never really been addressed, in an attempt to provide a brand-new tool for MEPs, who face a situation that has not only persisted but has not even been halted. The working document points out that, according to figures from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), in 2024 alone 65.8 million new displacements were recorded globally, and 45.8 million of these people were forced to move due to floods, windstorms, earthquakes or droughts. 

These figures sound the alarm, as “this is the highest annual figure ever recorded by the IDMC,” it is noted, amounting to “almost double the annual average of the last decade.” Not only that: “Overall, weather events linked to climate change accounted for 99.5 per cent of all disaster-related displacements in 2024,” demonstrating and confirming that “the climate change currently underway is set to generate an increasing number of ‘climate refugees'”. Forecasts indicate that, unless action is taken, “by 2050, 216 million people across the world’s six continents could be forced to move internally.” These are known as internally displaced persons, climate refugees within their own country or region. 

At first glance, the situation appears to have improved only slightly, given that ten years ago, the then President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, warned of the risk of 250 million climate refugees by 2050. Small consolation, then, if the number of internally displaced persons were to end up being “only” 216 million. But beware, as figures from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) indicate that in the decade 2014–2024, extreme weather events caused 218 million internal displacements. In essence, these figures are already an established reality. 

EU policymakers are therefore being urged once again to tackle the problem seriously and without delay. “By the end of 2023, 75 per cent of forcibly displaced people were living in countries with high to extreme exposure to climate risks,” notes the document from the European Parliament’s think tank. “As the number of people affected is expected to double by 2050, it is necessary to adequately address the problem of the annual displacement of millions of people worldwide due to environmental disasters,” it emphasises.