Khaled Hosseini: Refugee numbers 'highest in decade'
The UN Refugee Agency says 2011 saw 4.3 million newly displaced people - the highest number in a decade.
The figures also show that three-quarters of the world's refugees have been in limbo for at least five years as they await a solution.
In particular, UN goodwill ambassador Khaled Hosseini points out, there has been a rise in the numbers of internally displaced people.
Mr Hosseini, author of best-selling novel The Kite Runner and a former refugee himself, spoke to the BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington on World Refugee Day.