Colombia

Despite having one of the largest economies in Latin America, Colombia has one of the largest disparities in wealth between rich and poor in the world, the world’s second largest displaced population, and has suffered decades of conflict. The current conflict dates back to the mid-1960s, with government and paramilitary groups in conflict with several anti-government groups, especially the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). Colombia has become heavily mined and is second only to Afghanistan in the number of deaths caused by land mines.

Colombia is increasingly affected by natural disasters and has suffered several occurrences of severe flooding, affecting millions of people and causing mass displacement. The most recent flooding occurred in November 2010 and affected two million people. As a result of natural disasters and ongoing internal conflict, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Colombia in 2009 was estimated to be as many as 3.3 million, the equivalent of 7.1% of the population.

Humanitarian aid to Colombia doubled from US$45 million in 2004 to US$94.5 million in 2005, in response to floods that affected over 600,000 people.