Global conflicts create record 59.5m refugees

'Response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before,' says UN commissioner in new report

Conflicts around the world sent the number of people forced to flee their homes to a record 59.5 million last year, the United Nations said on Thursday.

The total is 8.3 million more refugees and internally displaced people in the world than in 2013 - the highest ever increase in a single year, the UN refugee agency said in a report titled "World at War".