Almost 70.8 million people were forcibly displaced last year, a 2.3-million increase compared to 2017, according to a report released in Rome on Wednesday by the United Nations Refugee Agency, or UNHCR.

Ahead of the World Refugee Day, celebrated worldwide on June 20, the UN agency in Rome provided the latest figures in its annual Global Trends report.

The number of people forced to leave their homes, and often their countries, due to war, unrest, or persecution has never been so high in the last seven decades, the report stated.

"This is the largest global displacement situation since the World War II," Roland Schilling, UNHCR regional representative for Southern Europe, told a news conference.

The 70.8 million comprised 25.9 million refugees, nearly 41.3 million people forcibly displaced within their own country, and more than 3.5 million asylum-seekers waiting for a decision on their application, according to the report.

An estimated 13.6 million were newly displaced because of conflicts or persecution last year, including 10.8 million people looking for safety within the borders of their own country.

Such number made an average of 37,000 people being forced to flee for every single day of 2018, officials at the news conference highlighted.

Finally, there were 1.7 million new claims lodged by asylum-seekers last year, with most seeking asylum in the United States, followed by Peru, Germany, France and Turkey.

Altogether, two-thirds of refugees worldwide in 2018 originated from five war-afflicted countries: Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Sudan.

Yet the UN agency warned it was unable to provide a detailed estimate of people fleeing from all crises around the world. "The figure of 70.8 million is conservative, in particular as the crisis in Venezuela is still only partly reflected in this number," the report specified.

Overall, the number of displaced people spiraled out of control in the last decade, rising from 43.3 million in 2009 to the current 70.8 million, the report said.

The situation worsened especially between 2012 and 2015, mainly due to the war in Syria, which has now entered its eighth year and has so far produced more than 5.6 million refugees and 6.6 million internally displaced.

Yet, other hot spots around the planet contributed to the rise as well, including Iraq and Yemen in the Middle East, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan in Africa, and Bangladesh in Asia.

Not only was the situation not improving, the UNHCR warned, but a much-needed trend reversal seemed to be nowhere in sight.

"This proves the current policies implemented not only in Italy or Europe but around the world — policies mostly built on concepts such as exclusion and fear, and leading to the construction of defensive walls — are not focusing on a real solution," said Carlotta Sami, UNHCR spokeswoman for Southern Europe.