United Nations Radio

Almost half of the world's refugees are from Afghanistan and Iraq.

The UN refugee agency-UNHCR says conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

As a result, there's a marked increase in the global number of refugees for a second straight year after several years of decline.

UNHCR says in its annual report that in 2007 there were 11.4 million refugees living outside their countries compared with nearly 10 million in 2006.

It says a further 26 million were displaced within their own countries, up from more than 24 million the year before.

In Geneva, Spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis quotes High Commissioner Antonio Guterres as saying the agency is now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future.

"They range from multiple new conflict-related emergencies in those hot spots to bad governance, climate-induced environmental degradation that increases competition for scarce resources and extreme price rises that have hit the poor the hardest and are generating instability in many places."

UNHCR says there are three million displaced Afghans, most in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, and 2 million Iraqi refuges, mostly in Syria and Jordan.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

(duration: 1'15")