The number of people forced from their homes by conflict and persecution has passed 50million in a year for the first time since the Second World War. Some 51.2million sought shelter last  year – the equivalent of almost the entire population of England. The figure, revealed by the United Nations, is up six million from 2012, largely due to Syrians fleeing civil war. Iraqis who have fled the violence in their hometown of Mosul line arrive at Khazir refugee camp outside of Irbil north of Baghdad Sunni militants captured a strategic city along the highway to Syria on forcing many to flee
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More than 50million people are refugees according to United Nations figures
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Down to largely Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country
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Shows the strain facing aid agencies trying to help those forced to flee
By the end of last year, 2.5 million Syrians had become refugees in neighboring countries and more than 6.5 million had been displaced within @placeholder, the U.N. agency said.