Syria’s civil war is one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time, with sectarian violence and famine forcing more than 50 million people to flee the country – the largest number of displaced people since World War II.
To help people better understand the crisis, Esri sourced information from UNHCR and Airbus Defence and Space to create a story map which visually presents key information surrounding the unfolding crisis.
The human brain is geared to process visual information 60,000 times faster than alphanumeric data, making this map a powerful way to view a complex story that has been unfolding for years.
In addition to revealing key facts and figures regarding the crisis (for example the total number of forcibly displaced people has nearly tripled since 1995, and refugees totaled an estimated 15.1 million in 2015 alone), the story map clearly reveals where refugees from Syria and other countries have taken sanctuary around the world.
Take a closer look at the story map to view the refugee crisis through a geographic lens – and better understand this devastating global emergency.
