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Article: Refugee Communities
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
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REFUGEE COMMUNITIES
In recent decades, the world has experienced unprecedented levels of human migration due to globalization, changing international economic patterns, and ethnic conflict. Between 1980 and 1997 the worldwide refugee population increased from 9 million to over 41 million persons. Approximately 20 million of these individuals are formally classified by the United Nations as "refugees," meaning they have been forced to flee across their own international borders. The others are classified as "internally displaced persons," meaning they have fled their homes but have not been able to leave their countries. These numbers do not include the millions of voluntary economic ...