One million lives uprooted. One million desperate souls trying to start anew with nothing, far away from home.

The number of Syrians who have fled their country since the civil war began almost two years ago reached 1 million Wednesday, the U.N. refugee agency said.

An average of almost 1,400 refugees spill across the border daily. The 1 million figure represents about 5% of Syria's total population.

That's akin to the entire population of Prague, Czech Republic, walking away.

"With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiraling towards full-scale disaster," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.

The pace of the exodus has spiked dramatically in recent months.

More than 400,000 have fled since the beginning of this year to countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. About half the refugees are children.

The news coincides almost exactly with the second anniversary of the Syrian civil war.

And a day doesn't go by without a death toll. More than 60 people have been killed in the fighting Wednesday, and the United Nations and Syrian rebels are in a standoff over U.N. peacekeepers who've been detained amid the fighting.

Here's where the refugee crisis stands now:

Many Syrians flee to other countries with few or no belongings, traumatized by the horrors of war and the pain of lost relatives.

"It was a very difficult decision to leave my home. I never wanted to -- ever," one refugee in Lebanon told Save the Children. But the missiles and cluster bombs left her no choice, she said.

The scene at the Jordanian-Syrian border this week highlights the desperation.

Elderly women, wounded men and entire families scampered across the border under the cover of night.

A baby, wounded in the head by shrapnel, cried as the sound of shelling echoed in the distance.

"There are men left, but the families have fled in very large numbers in all of Daraa," one refugee said. "You can now count the people left on your fingers. Syria is emptying."

While host families have taken in some refugees, others have endured frigid weather in tent camps or struggle to pay for shelter.

A local administration office in Lebanon said it was running out of makeshift homes and heating fuel for refugees.

Some must live in places where the only source of heat is a small outdoor fire for cooking.

In Jordan, it's illegal for refugees to work, so some families have gone into deep debt to keep their children alive, Save the Children said.

A 46-year-old refugee in Lebanon described the plight of his family, who has spent the past year living in an old sheep shed.

"I cry in my heart. I feel depressed. It's unjust. Is there a worse way to live than this?" the refugee, identified as Ahmed, told the aid group.

"Our situation is terrible to the maximum. We didn't expect there were humans who could live the way we are living."

Host countries: Resources pushed to the limit

The endless flood of refugees has drained resources in neighboring countries in unpredictable ways.