( CNN ) -- The number of people forced from their homes worldwide has risen to 43.7 million , the highest level in 15 years , according to a U.N. refugee agency report released Monday . That 's up from 43.3 million people a year earlier , said UNHCR 's 2010 Global Trends report , which was released to coincide with World Refugee Day . Of those displaced , the report classified 15.4 million people as refugees forced to flee their country and 27.5 million as displaced persons within their own country , forced to leave their home because of conflict or natural disaster , the report said . The release of the annual report comes amid ireports of people fleeing conflict in Syria , Sudan and Libya . In recent days , thousands have begun fleeing to refugee camps set up along the Syria-Turkey border to accommodate those attempting to escape a Syrian military crackdown on anti-government demonstrators . `` Four-fifths of world refugees are in the developing world , and it is the developing world that needs international solidarity to cope with this challenge , '' Antonio Guterres , the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees , said Monday . A woman , who identified herself as Nour , said she fled to the camps because she believed she would die if she stayed in Syria . `` I come here . This circumstance is so difficult , '' she said . `` I am pregnant . I can not bear such things. `` The report said 10.5 million of the world 's refugees are under the care of the United Nations , and another 4.82 million are registered with the U.N . Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees . `` I think there are two dramatic misperceptions ( regarding refugees ) , '' Guterres said . `` The first is the idea that all refugees come into the north , into Europe , which is not true ... and the second perception is the inability to distinguish what economic migration is -- people moving from one country to another because they want , and that 's a very legitimate aspiration , a better life , and what refugees are -- those that are fleeing the conflict and persecution , those that have no alternative but to flee from their country . '' The report also found that Afghans accounted for a third of the world 's refugees , followed by Iraqis , Somalis , Congolese and Sudanese refugees . Four-fifths of the world 's refugees live in some of the world 's poorest countries , with Pakistan , Iran and Syria hosting the most refugees , according to the report . `` The world is failing these people , leaving them to wait out the instability back home and put their lives on hold indefinitely , '' Guterres said in a written statement . `` Developing countries can not continue to bear this burden alone , and the industrialized world must address this imbalance . '' Guterres called for increased settlement quotas and accelerated peace initiatives in long-standing conflicts so that refugees can go home . CNN 's Arwa Damon contributed to this report .
The United Nations says record number of refugees have fled their homes . The UN releases its report to coincide with World Refugee Day . Afghans account for a third of the world 's refugees , the UN says . Report : Four - fifths of the world 's refugees live in the world 's poorest countries .