The number of refugees worldwide has risen for the first time in five years, largely because of violence in Iraq, according to a United Nations report.

The total number of refugees rose by more than 14% last year to nearly 10 million, the UN refugee agency says.

The number of internally displaced people also reached a record high of almost 13 million, the report says.

Besides Iraq, conflicts in Lebanon, East Timor, Sudan and Sri Lanka were blamed for the rise in refugee numbers.

The figures released by the UN do not include some 4.3m Palestinians (including those born in exile) displaced since 1948 as a result of the conflict with Israel.

The current total is the highest since 2002, when the UN reported there were 10.6m refugees worldwide.

"For the first time since 2002, a declining trend in the global figures was reversed," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' report, 2006 Global Trends, said.

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The UN said the world had 9.9m refugees at the end of 2006 - a rise of 1.2m or 14% - from the total of 8.7m recorded at the end of 2005.