A third of the world's refugee population last year came from sub-Saharan Africa, an implication of the severity of the humanitarian crisis in the continent, a new report by the World Bank reveals.

By the end of 2015, sub-Saharan Africa was the source of 33 per cent of the total world refugees, second only to Middle East at 34 per cent. South Asia was third contributing 19 per cent of the refugees.

Four countries in eastern Africa – Burundi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan - are among the top ten sources of both refugees and internally displaced persons.

The other six are Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Colombia, the Caucasus and the former Yugoslavia.

While the current refugee crisis is severe – with a reported 65 million people living in forced displacement – the report finds that over the past 25 years, the majority of both refugees can be traced to conflicts in those ten countries.

About 24 per cent of refugees live in managed camps or in collective centres in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the report adds.

“Forced displacement is a crisis centred in developing countries, which host 89 per cent of refugees and 99 per cent of internally displaced persons”, says World Bank.

The report cites that since people naturally flee to neighbouring countries, the responsibility of hosting has not been shared evenly with only about 15 countries playing host to the majority of refugees.

“At its root are the same 10 conflicts which have accounted for the majority of the forcibly displaced every year since 1991, consistently hosted by about 15 countries – also overwhelmingly in the developing world.”

“Forced displacement denies development opportunities to millions, creating a major obstacle to our efforts to end extreme poverty by 2030,” World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim said.

Kenya and Ethiopia hosting Somalis and South Sudanese who fled conflict, accounted for 7 per cent of the world’s refugees by the end of 2015, while Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, Syria’s neighbours hosted 27 per cent.

Financing the global response will take significant resources, according to the World Bank, which urges that institutions and governments to broaden funding approaches to support preparedness especially for low-income host countries.