The global number of refugees fell 4 percent in 2004 to 9.2 million, the lowest total in almost a quarter of a century, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR's annual global statistics published on Friday.

But the numbers of internally displaced and stateless people remain high, says the 90-page report released just ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20.

Despite the drop in refugee numbers to the lowest since 1980, the total "of concern" to UNHCR -- which also includes asylum seekers, returnees, stateless people and a portion of the world's internally displaced people -- increased to 19.2 million from 17 million over the course of the years.

"Behind every number is a human being," said Antonio Guterres, who began work as the 10th UNHCR chief on Wednesday.

"While we can be glad there has been a reduction in refugees and an increase in the number of returnees, we must remember that each one of those 19.2 million men, women and children has suffered the trauma of displacement -- as have many millions of internally displaced people who are not currently being cared for, " he added.

UNHCR said the decline in the global refugee number for a fourth year in succession can largely be attributed to an almost unprecedented level of voluntary repatriation. In all, more than 5 million refugees have been able to return to their home countries since the end of 2001 -- 3.5 million of them to Afghanistan alone.

The number of internally displaced people of concern to UNHCR increased partly as a result of two new developments in 2004: the additional responsibility to help protect 660,000 of the 1.8 million displaced people in the Darfur region of Sudan, and an increased government estimate of the number of displaced people in Colombia -- up by 240,000 to 2 million.

Except for the Palestinians, Afghans remained the biggest refugee group at 2.1 million, according to the statistics.

Source: Xinhua