West and Central Africa — Lake Chad Basin Situation Monthly Dashboard 54 (July 2023)

The crisis currently affecting the Lake Chad Basin states results from a complex combination of factors, including conflict with non-state armed groups, extreme poverty, underdevelopment and a changing climate, which together have triggered significant displacement of populations. As of July 2023, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria were hosting an estimated 6,065,751 affected individuals made up of internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (former IDPs and returnees from abroad) and refugees (both in- and out-of-camp). Twelve per cent of the affected population (748,764 individuals) were located in Cameroon, while 5 per cent resided in Chad (307,326 individuals), 7 per cent in Niger (422,366 individuals) and finally, 76 per cent in Nigeria (4,587,295 individuals). Overall, the numbers show increases in IDPs and returnees former IDPs since December 2022 within the region, with respectively 5 and 12 per cent variations. The IDPs numbers have increased in Cameroon (+11%), Chad (+8%) and Niger (+2%) but have shown a slight decrease in Nigeria (-3%). Figures for returnees from abroad and refugees have slightly decreased in the region since December 2022, by 1 and 5 per cent respectively.