UN says Syria refugees top 3 million mark

GENEVA (AP) — The civil war in Syria has forced a record 3 million people out of the country, an increase of 1 million from almost exactly a year ago, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

With about one of every eight Syrians fleeing across the border, and 6.5 million others displaced with the country's borders, the Geneva-based agency said over half of all those uprooted are children.

"The Syria crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

His agency emphasized that almost half of all Syrians have now been forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives since the conflict began in March 2011. Syria had a prewar population of 23 million.

The massive numbers of Syrians fleeing the civil war also has stretched the resources of neighboring countries and raised fears of violence spreading in the region.

The U.N. estimates there are nearly 35,000 more awaiting registration as refugees, and hundreds of thousands who are not registered.