About us

About IDMC

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) is the world's leading source of data and analysis on internal displacement. Since our establishment in 1998 as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), we have offered a rigorous, independent and trusted service to the international community. Our work informs policy and operational decisions that improve the lives of the millions of people living in internal displacement, or at risk of becoming displaced in the future.

What is internal displacement? Why should we care about it? Who is the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and what are they doing to address and help solve this issue? Watch this short introductory video, produced by content agency Raw London, to find out. The video won an EVCOM Clarion Award in September 2019. 

Our mission

To provide high-quality data, analysis and expertise on internal displacement with the aim of informing policy and operational decisions that can reduce the risk of future displacement and improve the lives of internally displaced people (IDP) worldwide.

What we do

We provide verified, consolidated and multi-sourced estimates of the number of people internally displaced or at risk of becoming displaced by conflict, violence, disasters and development projects across the world.

We complement this global data with interdisciplinary research into the drivers, patterns and impacts of internal displacement across different country situations, contexts and scenarios.

Using this evidence, we provide tailor-made advice and support to inform global, regional and national policy-making.

Our achievements

Thanks to our unique, internationally endorsed mandate, we have played a convening role and provided leadership on IDP data collection and analysis processes across the world, and consolidated multiple sources of information on the scale, scope and patterns of displacement to provide a comprehensive and global picture of this phenomenon.

We have worked with national governments, UN agencies and expert centres to find effective and lasting solutions to internal displacement. Our global data and expertise have served to keep this issue visible on the international agenda, and have shaped some of the world’s key global and regional policy frameworks of relevance to this issue, including on humanitarian action, climate change and disaster risk reduction. Our data is used for setting targets and measuring progress towards these frameworks.

With over twenty years of experience monitoring and analysing internal displacement often in highly sensitive and hard-to-reach areas, we have developed innovative and specialist tools to expand our global coverage and to continuously improve our understanding of this phenomenon.

Our tools

We provide different types of analytical tools for different purposes, and adjust the temporal and spatial scale of our reporting to inform operational and policy decision-making at different levels - from the local to the global level - and across different sectors, from prevention and risk reduction, to humanitarian programming, post-crisis recovery and sustainable development. We pride ourselves on being transparent with the data that we use, and independent in the analysis that we provide.

Our tools include:

  • The Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID): Our annual flagship report synthesises the latest statistics, country/situation assessments, thematic and policy analyses. Each year it presents the most up-to-date estimates of new displacements by conflict and disasters, and the total cumulative numbers of IDPs worldwide. The GRID is the global reference for internal displacement data and analysis and is widely used by policy-makers national governments, UN agencies, international NGOs, journalists and academics.
  • Global Internal Displacement Database (GIDD): This data dashboard displays global and country-level data on internal displacements (movements) and internally displaced people (IDPs) that we have validated for the previous year available. You can search by location, type of displacement and date range.
  • Country profiles: An overview of latest figures and analysis of internal displacement per country, including overview of causes and patterns of displacement, priority needs and vulnerabilities, and government policy and operational responses at national and sub-national level.
  • Internal Displacement Updates (IDUs): ‘Flash’ updates on internal displacement events across the globe, published daily.
  • Research publications: Thematic, regional or country research on: 1) conflict and peacebuilding; 2) climate change, disasters & displacement; 3) solutions to displacement; 4) gender perspectives; 5) children, youth and education; 6) IDPs with disabilities; 7) socioeconomic impacts of internal displacement; and 8) urban displacement.
  • Global Repository of Best Practices: policies and programmatic approaches to support better solutions for internally displaced people worldwide.
  • Displacement severity assessments: IDMC’s severity assessments compare IDPs’ living conditions to those of their host community or non-displaced communities in the same country.