UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – According to him, 60 million people across the globe are currently refugees that represents a tough challenge for all countries of the world, including the Middle Eastern and European ones.

“The single crisis in Syria — it has generated; it has driven more than four million people to other countries. It is causing great challenges to many countries like Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq,” Ban told reporters.

Inside Syria, nearly 8 million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, he added.

“Twenty five per cent of the Lebanese population is now Syrian refugees. There are more than 2 million refugees in Turkey, 1.5 million in Jordan, 300,000 in Iraq, and some in Northern Africa, Egypt,” the UN chief stressed.

Syria has experiencing the violent civil conflict since 2011, with government forces fighting anti-government rebels as well as extremist groups, including the Islamic State.