The number of refugees worldwide has slumped to reach a 26-year low, according to a report by UNHCR.

More than six million refugees, defined as people who cross international borders to flee persecution or violence, have returned home since 2002, the UN refugee agency said.

The "good news" is that global refugee numbers were now at their lowest level since 1980 - 8.4 million in 2005, down from 9.5 million in 2004.

In the words of UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, the "bad news is that the international community still has a long way to go in resolving the plight of millions of internally displaced people in places like Darfur, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo".

Thus, the number of people living in refugee-like conditions within their own countries has grown.

Colombia recorded the highest number of uprooted people of concern to the UNHCR, with two million internally displaced. This is followed by Iraq, with 1.6 million, Pakistan, with 1.1 million, Sudan with one million and Afghanistan with 912,000.

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