The year 2015 has produced the highest number of refugees and displaced people in the 70 years since the Second World War, with many calling it "the year of the migrant".
But as the year comes to an end, the United Nations refugee agency is warning the massive flow of migration will continue in 2016.
Abbie O'Brien reports.
For Syrians Abou and Umm Hussein the new year will mark almost four years away from home.
Having fled the Syrian city of Homs, the couple now lives in a small apartment in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli with their family of 11.
The Syrian crisis has put a severe strain on Lebanon, which hosts the highest proportion of Syrian refugees in the world -- 1.1 million in a country of 4 million people.
Abou Hussein worries about the future of his children.
He says he hopes he can offer them a better life in 2016, whether it be in Syria or elsewhere.
(Translated:) "If there isn't going to be peace in Syria, we'd wish to emigrate anywhere else abroad for these children to get an education, look out for their future, practise reading and writing, to play and to get fed properly, as they suffer from malnutrition. Smiles have been absent from their faces for a long time now."
The United Nations estimates seven in 10 refugees in Lebanon live in extreme poverty and around 200,000 refugee children are out of formal education.
Umm Hussein says she wants a better quality of life for her children and hopes, one day, that can be back in her home country.
(Translated:) "For 2016, we wish for peace in Syria and for all of us to return home. But if this does not happen, then we wish to go somewhere where we can secure a good future, a better education for our son and daughters, and better healthcare. Living standards in European countries are much better than Lebanon. We basically need healthcare and education for our children and the elderly. Hopefully, we will return to Syria."
The Syrian civil war has driven more than 4 million people into refugee camps in neighbouring countries like Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, while many others have fled to Europe.
The United Nations refugee agency says, since the start of 2015, more than 1 million refugees and migrants have reached Europe by sea.
And as the year draws to an end, the flow of migrants does not.
More refugees and migrants have arrived in European ports this week as the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, warns the wave of migration will extend into 2016.
Already this week, 4,000 people have arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos.
United Nations High Comissioner for Refugees spokesman Adrian Edwards says, with the war in Syria unrelenting, the number of refugees will continue to grow.
"Sadly, the underlying causes of these movements, which are the conflicts we're seeing in this world, are not going away. We expect, therefore, more people to arrive in 2016. And that, too, means that there has to be much more work in finding sustainable solutions to this situation."
Mr Edwards says, with so many lives lost at sea in 2015, a focus for the New Year will be on finding alternatives to people making dangerous journeys at sea.
"The staggering number of arrivals on the Mediterranean this year, the 4,000 lives that have been lost, the fact that people are continuing to arrive -- even today, we've had almost 4,000 people arriving on the Aegean islands -- this all begs the question 'Why is it that a million people have to arrive in Europe by smugglers' boat?' I think there has to be much more focus on safe and regular alternatives to this. And those alternatives do exist."
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