Geneva/ Addis Ababa, 29 May – Over 3 million people were internally displaced in Ethiopia by the end of last year according to the latest National Displacement Report by the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM).  

The Report shows that the majority - 69 per cent - of those displaced were a direct result of conflict, whereas drought and other climate induced events such as floods, landslides and fires on the other hand contributed to 17 per cent, and 9 per cent respectively. 

“These findings will help IOM and its partners, including UN agencies, NGOs, government officials, embassies, and donors, to make data-driven interventions and solutions for displaced persons in Ethiopia,” said Abibatou Wane, Chief of Mission for IOM Ethiopia “IOM will continue to expand its assessment coverage across the country so that the needs of more IDPs can be assessed.” 

Tigray region in the north hosts the highest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), primarily due to conflict whereas the Somali region in the east hosts the highest number of those internally displaced by drought. Ethiopia and other countries in the region were impacted by the worst drought in four decades. 

As part of the National Displacement Report, a Village Assessment Survey (VAS) was also carried out to track IDPs who were returning from villages they moved to and went back to their places of origin within the country.  

The report further shows that an estimated 2.54 million returning IDPs were identified in over 2,500 villages across 10 regions representing an increase of over 18,500 IDPs returning home since the last data was collected between August and September 2023. Most returnees were going back to Tigray (38 per cent), Amhara (37 per cent), and Afar (9 per cent) regions. The figures show. 

Notes to Editors 

DTM is the official source for displacement data in Ethiopia and coordinates with the Ethiopia Disaster Risk Management Commission.   

This data was collected from over 2,600 sites across 11 regions in Ethiopia between November and December 2023. 

The data presented above is indicative of the displacement and return in areas accessible to IOM enumerators, and which fall under the tools’ methodology of assessing locations with at least 20 households with IDPs or returning IDPs (who have returned since 1 January 2022). Many locations remain out of reach to partners due to insecurity, road inaccessibility and social tension.  

According to the 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview, 4.4 million IDPs are displaced across Ethiopia in both accessible and inaccessible locations. 

This report is funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the Governments of Germany and Japan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

For more information, please contact:  

In Addis Ababa: Kaye Viray,  kkviray@iom.int