Imagine that you have been left with no other option but to leave your home, which has been devastated by political conflict or war. Despite indifference to your plight worldwide, you decide anywhere is more hopeful than your ravaged motherland.
You've now become one of the forcibly displaced people worldwide, a number that increased by 2.9 million in 2017. According to a UN Refugee Agency, this brought the total figure to a record-high 68.5 million.
More than 25 million of people like you are refugees, while 40 million are internally displaced within their own countries. In addition, nearly 45,000 others become new displacements every day.
You're likely from one of five countries, like Syria or Afghanistan. You also might be part of the more than 50 percent of refugees under the age of 18.
Your destination is probably a developing state, as these nations are hosting 85 percent of refugees. Turkey remains the main country for asylum, followed by Pakistan, Uganda and Lebanon, respectively.
World Refugee Day is celebrated annually on June 20. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. The date was selected to commemorate the anniversary of the Convention on the Status of Refugees in 1951.
