Somalia Crisis

Somalia Map
Source: OCHA/ReliefWeb

The country

Somalia is a country in Eastern Africa, located on the Horn of Africa. Its national capital is Mogadishu. The country shares land borders with Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya and is bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Somalia covers a land area of 637,657 square kilometers. As of 2025, the country had an estimated population of around 19.3 million people. Somalia is regarded as one of the most fragile and least developed states in the world.

The humanitarian situation

Somalis are facing one of the world's most complex humanitarian crises. This crisis is fueled by conflict, displacement, food insecurity, political instability, climate shocks, poverty, and economic decline. Although Somalia's humanitarian needs remain high, reduced donor funding in 2025 forced humanitarian agencies to scale back or shut down critical programs, drastically reducing life-saving operations.  Severe drought conditions in Somalia are endangering millions of lives amid dwindling funds. 

A devastating drought in the country that began in 2020 reached unprecedented levels in 2022. Five consecutive rainy seasons had failed, the longest and most severe drought in Somalia's recent history. The 2020-2023 drought came to an end in the second quarter of 2023. 

Torrential rains in the 2023 Deyr rainy season, due in part to the El Niño phenomenon, caused flash floods and massive flooding, affecting some 2.5 million people. More than 1.2 million men, women and children were displaced from their homes. The heavy flooding caused by the Deyr rainy season was the worst witnessed in decades.

Between 2023 and 2024, rainfall helped alleviate the effects of the severe drought in many parts of Somalia. However, as of 2025, communities across the country are still recovering when they have been once again hit by drought conditions, due to prolonged dry spells. On November 10, 2025, the Somali government declared a nationwide drought emergency.

While the drought is particularly devastating in the eastern and northern regions, it is quickly spreading to central and southern Somalia as well. The recurrence of such extreme weather events underscores the vulnerability of the country’s population to climate change and the ongoing challenges in addressing food and water insecurity.

Drought conditions in the northern regions have significantly deteriorated as the 2025 Deyr season (October–December) has also been below average. The situation is particularly serious in the Nugaal, Mudug, Bari, and Sanaag regions, which are experiencing their fourth consecutive season of poor rainfall.

Following poor rainfall during the October–December 2024 Deyr season, the country experienced significant rainfall disparities during the Gu season (April–June 2025). The southern regions received more rainfall than projected, while the northern regions received almost none, leaving some areas completely dry.

Ongoing conflict, escalating clan violence, and recurrent climatic shocks have led to widespread displacement in Somalia. As of November 2025, an estimated 4.5 million Somalis remain displaced. While about 3.6 million people are internally displaced within Somalia, more than 900,000 Somalis have sought refuge in neighboring countries due to climatic shocks and armed conflict, mostly in Kenya (455,000) and Ethiopia (360,000). More than 80 percent of the displaced are women and children. 

In the first ten months of 2025 alone, more than 316,000 people were newly displaced in Somalia due to conflict, drought, and floods, after more than 500,000 people were newly internally displaced in 2024. Last year, conflict was the main driver of new internal displacement, as inter-clan fighting surged in several regions. Most people forced to flee their homes remained within the same region.

In 2023, conflict, severe drought and devastating floods had forced more than 2.9 million people in Somalia to flee their homes  â€“ a record rate of displacement for the country, with many families displaced more than once. In 2022, about 1.8 million people in Somalia had been forced to flee from their homes, including 1.2 million due to severe drought and 600,000 people due to conflict and violence.  

Somalia continues to face a severe food security crisis. According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, 4.4 million Somalis are currently experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, including more than 920,000 people facing emergency levels.

The nutritional situation is equally alarming: nearly 1.9 million children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition, of whom more than 420,000 face severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and 1.43 million suffer from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM).

SAM, also known as severe wasting, is the deadliest form of malnutrition. Children diagnosed with SAM require immediate, intensive treatment because they are extremely vulnerable to life-threatening complications and have a high mortality rate if they receive inadequate care.

Malnutrition also weakens the immune system, making children more vulnerable to infectious diseases. Factors contributing to the malnutrition crisis include insecurity, which limits access to agriculture, extreme weather conditions such as drought, and high food prices.

Despite being one of the world’s most critical hunger hotspots, Somalia faces a decline in food assistance of more than two thirds compared to last year. Less than 1 in every 10 people, who are in need of food assistance for survival, are currently supported, leaving them without a vital source of food and nutrition at a time when they are becoming increasingly vulnerable.

According to the most recently conducted humanitarian needs assessments, an estimated 7.5 million people have been affected by recent shocks across 64 of Somalia’s 90 districts, which are the second-level administrative divisions of the country, beneath the 18 regions.

Reduced donor funding has forced humanitarian agencies in Somalia to scale back or close critical programs, drastically reducing life-saving operations and putting millions of lives at risk. Food assistance has been slashed, health facilities are closing, and water and sanitation services are dwindling.

Humanitarian organizations report that aid shortages are taking a growing toll on Somalia's most vulnerable people by leaving them without access to vital healthcare, nutritional support, and safe water. Currently, over 200 health facilities are either non-functional or closed, and mobile health teams have been disbanded, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Brutal funding cuts are devastating for severely malnourished children who have lost or will soon lose access to lifesaving treatment. 

In 2025, an estimated one-third of the population - about 6 million people - require humanitarian assistance, while 9.1 million Somalis out of a population of 19.3 million are affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The 2025 US$1.42 billion humanitarian appeal for Somalia, which aims to provide critical assistance to nearly 4.6 million of the most vulnerable people, is only 24 percent funded, with some with $318 million received, as of November 2025.

Despite severe funding shortages, aid agencies have provided at least one form of humanitarian aid to more than 50 percent of those targeted in the first seven months of this year.

In response to new funding constraints, humanitarian agencies in Somalia have reprioritized their efforts. The revised plan targets 1.3 million people, a 72 percent reduction from the initial 2025 target of 4.6 million. The reprioritized plan requires $367 million, a 74 percent decrease from the original request of $1.42 billion. However, aid agencies warn that the reduction in targets does not reflect a reduction in needs.

The shortfall in aid is a direct consequence of the United States and other donor governments withdrawing essential humanitarian aid. Last year, the US government contributed more than half of the funding received by the 2024 Somalia HNRP ($475.7 million). As of November 2025, however, the US has provided only $44 million for the 2025 HNRP.

Around 6.9 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024, a significant decrease - 16 percent - compared to 2023. In 2023, 8.25 million people, almost half of the population, were relying on humanitarian assistance and protection. Among the people in need of aid were 4.9 million children.

The 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Somalia sought US$1.6 billion to help 5.2 million of the 6.9 million people in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection last year.  As of February 2025, the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Somalia was only 48 percent met by funding. Due to a lack of funds, aid organizations were only able to reach 2.3 million of the 5.2 million people they were targeting.

The Humanitarian Response Plan for 2023 called for US$2.6 billion to meet the critical needs of 7.6 million people in 2023. Yet, as of January 2024, aid agencies had received only 40 percent of the resources required to deliver much-needed assistance. In 2002, the UN had appealed for US$2.27 billion in funding for the Somalia crisis. As of December 2022, only $1.29 billion had been received from donors (57 percent coverage), a shortfall of nearly $1 billion.

The impact of the 2020-2023 drought and widespread insecurity were driving Somalia to the brink of famine. The drought had devastated the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable and marginalized people. Significant efforts in scaling up humanitarian assistance and more favorable rains than predicted led to a moderate improvement in food security. 

A study found that 71,000 excess deaths may have occurred as a result of severe drought between January 2022 and June 2024, with around 40 percent of the lives lost being children under the age of five. The research was commissioned by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London and Somalia's SIMAD University.

Somalia is also plagued by disease. A cholera outbreak has spread to several areas, with over 18,000 cases reported in 2023 and nearly 22,000 in 2024. In the first six months of 2025 alone, 5,681cases have been reported. Cholera remains a significant public health threat in Somalia. The Gu rains have triggered outbreaks in areas where cholera had not been detected for several years. Communities in these areas have experienced inadequate access to safe water and poor sanitation amid the flooding.

 

Somalia Location

The security situation

Insecurity persists in Somalia, with attacks by extremist group Al-Shabab (AS) and clan violence taking a heavy toll on civilians.

Widespread violence and population displacement have adversely affected Somalia since 1991. The current conflict - primarily related to attacks of the Al-Shabab militia and subsequent military operations, as well as intercommunal violence - continues to restrict economic activities while contributing to further population displacement and food insecurity.

The security situation in Somalia remains highly volatile and difficult to predict. The non-state armed group (NSAG) Al-Shabaab remains the main security threat, targeting civilians, government security forces, government employees, and personnel and facilities of the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).

The formation of a new government and the peaceful transfer of power to the president in May 2022 have brought limited political stability to the country. After years of state failure and conflict, Somalis are embarking on a more promising path to the future. The creation of regional states, the rebuilding of institutions, and the positive resumption of cooperation with the international community point to a brighter future for the country.

However, the security situation in Somalia remains extremely unstable. In addition to ongoing political and cross-community tensions, the renewed intensification of military operations against Al-Shabab will likely lead to increased displacement and impede humanitarian access. Attacks against civilians and aid workers also disrupt livelihoods and hinder humanitarian response activities, particularly in areas that lack established local authorities and where Al-Shabab militia is present. 

UN agencies in the country say their efforts to reach those affected are limited, mainly by a lack of funding and access due to conflict in some areas. 

While Al-Shabab controls parts of southern Somalia, the escalation of the military offensive against the militia has significant humanitarian implications, including increased displacement and reprisal attacks. Between 2022 and 2023, Somalia won significant victories against Al-Shabab, while the militant group also increased its counterattacks. The military offensive by government and allied forces against non-state armed groups, particularly Al-Shabab, continued in 2024, although with less intensity than in the previous two years.

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict in central and southern Somalia, while at the same time being caught up in inter-clan conflict. Inter-clan fighting over access to natural resources and political power persists, exposing civilians to mounting violence and displacement in several regions. 

Though Al-Shabab remains the main security threat, the Islamic State of Somalia (IS) has become increasingly active in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. IS in Somalia was formed in October 2015 by a group of former Al-Shabab fighters. Security experts have reported that IS has expanded its membership over the past year. Previous estimates put the group's size at between 100 and 400 fighters, but Somali experts now estimate that number to be between 500 and 600. Most of the new recruits are reportedly from the Middle East, as well as Eastern and Northern Africa.

Donations

Your donation for the Somalia emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to rapidly provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.

Currently, many NGOs and UN agencies are appealing for the Horn of Africa hunger crisis or the global hunger crisis. You may also consider making an unearmarked donation or a broader earmarked donation.

To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.

Further information

Last updated: 17/11/2025

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