GENEVA: Conflict and disasters forced tens of millions of people to flee within their own country in 2020, pushing the total number of internally displaced people worldwide to a record high, monitors said Thursday.

Last year was marked by intense storms, persistent conflicts and explosions of violence, forcing 40.5 million people to become displaced within their countries -- the highest number of new displaced in a decade -- and raising the total figure to a record 55 million, according to a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and the Norwegian Refugee Council.