The UN High Commission for Refugees says it is “extremely alarmed” at the ongoing pace of displacement in South Sudan.

More than 1.5 million people have been forced to leave the country and seek safety since conflict erupted in December 2013, according to the UN.

An additional 2.1 million people are displaced inside South Sudan.

The body says thousands continue to arrive in neighboring countries of Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Central African Republic every day with the conflict now in its fourth year.

“With this large-scale displacement, South Sudan is now Africa’s largest refugee crisis and the world’s third after Syria and Afghanistan – with less attention and chronic levels of underfunding,” it said in a statement.

The refugee agency says more than 760,000 refugees fled the country in 2016, as the conflict intensified in the second half of the year – on an average of 63,000 people were forced to leave the country per month.

The UN body says more than 60 per cent of the refugees are children, many arriving with alarming levels of malnutrition.

The majority of the refugees are being hosted by Uganda, where some 698,000 have arrived.

It urged all parties involved in the conflict in South Sudan to engage in peaceful resolution to the crisis.

For this year alone, the refugee agency is seeking for $782 million for regional operations inside South Sudan and the neighboring host countries.