Yemen Crisis

Yemen Map
Source: OCHA/ReliefWeb

The country

Yemen is a state in Western Asia, in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. Its national capital is Sanaa. The country has land borders with Saudi Arabia and Oman and shares maritime borders with Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. Yemen covers an area of 527,968 square kilometers. In 2025, the country had an estimated population of about 34.9 million people. Currently, Yemen is considered the most unstable state in the world.

The humanitarian situation

More than ten years of armed conflict in Yemen have caused tens of thousands of civilian casualties and forced millions to flee their homes, making Yemen one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Two-thirds of the country's population -  an estimated 23.1 million people - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2026, with Yemen's most vulnerable and marginalized groups, including women and girls, at greatest risk. 

While international attention has shifted to other global emergencies, Yemen remains one of the world's most severe and protracted humanitarian crises after more than a decade of war. A combination of economic decline, climatic shocks and regional escalation is driving humanitarian needs and fueling protection risks.

In 2025, Yemen's humanitarian response was hit by an unprecedented funding shortfall. This severe shortfall forced aid agencies to scale back critical services despite escalating needs, with devastating consequences: millions of people were left without essential care and exposed to heightened risks.

Almost 6 million people have been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of the civil war in 2015. As of January 2025, 4.8 million people were internally displaced inside Yemen, among them an estimated 3.84 million children and women. The country faces one of the largest internal displacement crises in the world. In addition, Yemen hosts some 70,000 refugees and asylum seekers.

Moreover, Yemen is at the forefront of the global climate crisis, as recurring natural disasters such as floods and severe droughts threaten people's lives, safety and well-being. And the country is among the least prepared to mitigate or adapt to the impacts of climate-related natural hazards, which are becoming more frequent.

In 2024, exceptionally heavy seasonal rains and severe flooding caused widespread damage and displacement across Yemen, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of thousands were displaced, ander more than 1.3 million people affected by climate-related extreme weather events in 2024. 

Extreme weather events related to climate change are growing more unpredictable and severe. The most prevalent is flooding, which typically occurs during the Kharif rainy season from July to September. Heavy rains during this season often cause flash floods, resulting in significant damage and loss to communities, as well as major displacement.

And the climate crisis is worsening. Floods, weather events and droughts affected 1.5 million people in 2025, washing away homes, livestock, and livelihoods. 

Years of conflict, economic collapse and climate shocks have pushed essential services in Yemen to the brink, leaving millions of people extremely vulnerable. Women and children, as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs), people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, are among those most at risk.

Yemen is one of the world’s most sever hunger crises, where populations are at imminent risk of catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5) or are already experiencing famine. The IPC, FEWSNET, the Hunger Hotspots Report, and the Global Hunger Index all categorize Yemen as one of the most food-insecure countries in the world.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), the level of inadequate food consumption reached a historic peak in Yemen in 2025.  WFP reported that 61 percent of households surveyed nationwide struggled to meet their minimum food needs in November 2025, including 35 percent who faced severe food deprivation, further compounded among IDPs and female-headed families.

Over 18 million people are experiencing acute food insecurity, including 5.8 million who are facing emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4). Additionally, 40,000 people are expected to face conditions of catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5).

Yemen’s nutrition crisis is also among the worst in the world. Currently, 2.5 million children under five and 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished. Nearly half of all children under five are stunted. Some 600,000 children are severely malnourished, which is a life-threatening condition with mortality rates 11 times higher than those of healthy children.

With thousands of nutrition sites closed due to a lack of funding and vital supplies set to run out by early 2026, the lives of hundreds of thousands of children are threatened. Without urgent action to stabilize food security and nutrition services, the hunger crisis is set to worsen.

As hunger and malnutrition remain at alarming levels, women and children continue to bear the brunt of the crisis. In some areas, the situation has already become catastrophic, with people — especially children — dying from a lack of food, nutritional support, and life-saving health services.

In 2025, humanitarian organizations around the world experienced an abrupt and unprecedented drop in funding due to severe cuts imposed by the United States and other major donors. Yemen has been profoundly impacted by this devastating development. The drastic reduction in funding forced relief agencies to scale back critical programming, leaving millions without life-saving support.

Health, water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), shelter, and protection services are shrinking as essential systems collapse. Since January 2025, more than 450 health facilities have faced partial or imminent closure, affecting hospitals, primary health centers, and mobile clinics across 22 governorates, leaving 8.4 million people with limited access to basic care. Water and sanitation will deteriorate for over 15 million people who are already water-insecure. With 17.4 million people lacking adequate sanitation and hygiene, preventable waterborne diseases will surge.

An estimated 6.7 million people live in inadequate shelters, and over 13 million lack sufficient access to safe drinking water, which increases the risk of infectious diseases. Meanwhile, more than 4.5 million children are out of school. Limited access to critical services continues to worsen conditions for the most vulnerable groups, including women and children.

In Yemen, three women die daily from preventable pregnancy complications. Additionally, 6.2 million women and girls lack basic protection services, and 7 million people require urgent mental health support. Meanwhile, 6.2 million people need services for gender-based violence (GBV) as women and girls, especially those in displaced and marginalized communities, face escalating risks of GBV.

The country's health sector remains at risk of collapse, with most of its health facilities closed or only partially functional. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the health crisis is exacerbated by an increase in measles, diphtheria, dengue fever, cholera, and polio outbreaks.

The ongoing cholera outbreak and other epidemics create additional challenges for people who are already in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. In December 2024, the WHO reported that Yemen bore the world's highest cholera burden that year.

An estimated 23.1 million people are expected to require humanitarian assistance in 2026, of whom 10.5 million will be targeted, with 8.8 million prioritized as urgent recipients. The 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) requests $2.5 billion, making it the fourth largest HRP globally.

In 2025, at least 19.5 million people in Yemen — more than half of the country's population — needed humanitarian aid and protection. Among them were 9.8 million children in dire need of assistance. As of January 2026, only 28 percent of the $2.47 billion sought by the 2025 Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan had been received, significantly hindering the reach of critical, life-saving programs. The plan aimed to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to 10.5 million of the most vulnerable people in need.

Over the previous year, the humanitarian situation remained dire or worsened in large parts of the country. There were 1.3 million more women, children, and men in need of relief than in the previous year. In 2024, 18.2 million people needed humanitarian assistance. 

The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) requested US$2.7 billion to reach 11.2 million people in need across the country. As of January 2025, the 2024 HRP was only 53 percent funded. Despite shortfalls in funding and other challenges, 197 aid organizations reached more than 8 million people with life-saving assistance in 2024 - two-thirds of which were local Yemeni organizations.

The UN and partner organizations needed 4.3 billion US dollars in 2023 to support millions of people across the country. By January 2024, only 1.71 billion dollars had been received from international donors (coverage rate of 40 percent). Despite lack of funding and substantial access challenges, 211 humanitarian organizations delivered aid and protection services to an average of 8.9 million people every month in 2023, including internally displaced persons, returnees, marginalized communities and vulnerable host communities.

The UN had requested $4.27 billion in funding for the Yemen crisis in 2022. By the end of 2022, only 2.28 billion had been received from international donors (53 percent coverage rate). In 2022, aid organizations succeeded in delivering life-saving assistance, including food, clean water, shelter, protection and education, to nearly 11 million people across the country each month. More than 200 humanitarian organizations in all 333 districts of Yemen provided this humanitarian support. 

Yemen LocationThe security situation

The conflict between a Saudi-led coalition of Gulf countries and the ousted Government of Yemen against the Ansar-Allah movement - also known as the Houthi rebels - escalated in 2015 as Saudi Arabia began in March airstrikes against the Houthi and Houthi-affiliated forces. Military support by the United States, the United Kingdom and France for the coalition fueled the conflict and aggravated the humanitarian crisis. The Houthi movement is allegedly supported by Iran.  

The protracted armed conflict in Yemen has been raging for more than ten consecutive years. In 2020 and 2021, fighting continued on the ground in Yemen as the Houthi gained territory, and also conducted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and missile attacks against targets in Saudi Arabia. 

In March 2022, the Saudi-led coalition announced that it would cease all hostilities within Yemen, in order to facilitate political talks and peacekeeping efforts. Peace efforts gained momentum in April 2022, when the Houthi and coalition forces coordinated a two-month truce, the first nationwide ceasefire in years. In June 2022 the parties to the conflict in Yemen agreed to a United Nations’ proposal to renew the truce for an additional two months.  At the last minute, in early August, the warring parties extended the ceasefire again for two months. 

There was great hope that this would lead to a lasting peace in Yemen. But after it expired, the ceasefire has so far neither been extended nor expanded. Under the six-month UN-brokered truce, which lasted from April 2 to October 2, 2022, civilian casualties and the number of displaced persons declined dramatically. 

While the UN-brokered ceasefire has not been renewed, there has been a fragile continuation of truce-like conditions. As a result, the level of violence has decreased and progress had been made in political negotiations. No airstrikes or major military operations took place, although minor clashes continued to occur in frontline areas. 

However, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of displaced people rose since the ceasefire expired as the conflict flared up again. In the last quarter of 2022 and early 2023, increased fighting along the front lines led to the displacement of thousands. But over the course of 2023, the terms of the ceasefire was largely honored. 

In mid-April 2023, the warring parties in Yemen released nearly 1,000 prisoners, raising hopes for a solution to the conflict. The development came a month after Saudi Arabia and Iran reached an agreement to restore relations. Following the diplomatic rapprochement between the two countries, hopes were growing in the region for a comprehensive political solution and an early end to Yemen's ten-year war.

Negotiations and talks between the warring parties and interested parties are continuing in the background, facilitated by the United Nations, but have neither led to a new ceasefire nor a peace agreement. The UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, is continuing his peace efforts nonetheless.

In December 2023, after a series of UN-brokered meetings in Saudi Arabia and Oman, the warring parties in Yemen agreed on important steps to end the devastating civil war. The agreed measures include the implementation of a nationwide ceasefire, the improvement of living conditions in Yemen and the resumption of an inclusive political process under UN auspices, which should lead to lasting peace in Yemen.

The country's conflict has become increasingly internationalized, and the escalating cycle of strikes and counterstrikes is hampering prospects for peace, threatening to undo the improved security conditions for civilians since the 2022 ceasefire. A return to widespread violence would trigger further displacement, collapse essential services, and exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis - pushing Yemen further away from the peace it so desperately needs.

Since 2023, Ansar Allah has stepped up its attacks in Israel and continued to target international shipping in the Red Sea, prompting retaliatory strikes against Yemen by the United States and United Kingdom, as well as Israel. In 2024 and 2025, Houthi forces targeted Israel with drones and rockets, resulting in several civilian injuries. In response to these attacks, there have been numerous Israeli airstrikes on Hudaydah, a major entry point for humanitarian aid into impoverished Yemen, as well as on Sanaa International Airport.

Israeli airstrikes have damaged critical civilian infrastructure, including Sanaa International Airport and the Port of Hudaydah, disrupting the ability to unload humanitarian aid. While regional tensions have dominated the headlines, there has been escalation on several fronts.

Military escalation in the country, following the US, UK and Israeli airstrikes on Houthi targets, risks worsening the existing grave situation for civilians. A further deterioration could undermine Yemen's fragile peace process and longer-term recovery from one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. As armed conflict in the Middle East intensifies, Yemen risks being drawn further into it. Without a lasting political solution in the country and a lasting resolution to the Gaza war, the situation remains precarious.

In December 2025, forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist group, advanced on the two resource-rich governorates of Hadramawt and al-Mahra, rapidly seizing control from the Saudi-backed government and dramatically shifting the power balance in southern Yemen. In January, with Saudi air support, government forces recaptured control of al-Mahra and parts of Hadramawt following the retreat of STC forces. The STC is reportedly backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and seeks an independent South Yemen. 

According to the UN, the arbitrary detention of humanitarian workers and false charges against them continue to severely hamper the ability of aid agencies to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance in Yemen. Since June 2024, UN staff, NGO workers and others have been arbitrarily detained by the Houthis. Some UN staff have also been detained since 2021 and 2023. 

In December 2025, 10 more UN personnel were arbitrarily detained by the Houthis, bringing the total number of UN staff currently held by Ansar Allah to 69. The UN has warned that the growing crackdown is crippling humanitarian operations and endangering millions of lives. The detentions have made delivering humanitarian assistance to Houthi-controlled areas nearly impossible, which directly affects millions of people in need by restricting their access to life-saving assistance.

Donations

Your donation for the Yemen 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.

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: 02/01/2026

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