Definition: Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)

Category: Migration statistics

Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights, or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognised state border.

For the purpose of statistical measurement, IDPs are people who were forced or obliged to flee from their place of usual residence due to a causal event, and are currently living within their country of usual residence. Causal events have to be in line with the letter and spirit of the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Although not limited to, causal events include: armed conflict, generalised violence, disasters, human rights violations, and natural and manmade disasters. Economic deprivation does not constitute a reason for a person to be included  in IDP statistics. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=KS-GQ-18-003&mode=view