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 has an estimated population of about 34.9 million people. Currently, Yemen is considered the most unstable state in the world.

The humanitarian situation

Nearly 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. More than half of the country's population - 19.5 million people - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2025, with Yemen's most vulnerable and marginalized groups, including women and girls, at greatest risk. 

More than 11,500 children have been killed or maimed since the beginning of the conflict, and thousands more have been recruited as child soldiers. The war in Yemen turned a formerly poor country into a humanitarian catastrophe.  

While international attention has shifted to other global emergencies, Yemen remains one of the world's most severe and protracted humanitarian crises after nearly a decade of war.  A combination of economic decline, climatic shocks and regional escalation is driving humanitarian needs and fueling protection 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 are 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 2023, climate-related factors, particularly heavy rains and flash floods, were the leading cause of new displacement in Yemen.

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.

Despite a six-month ceasefire between the ousted Government of Yemen and the Ansar Allah movement - also known as the Houthi rebels - in 2022, the suffering of the country's population remains immense, mainly due to the deteriorating economic situation and the collapse of basic services. 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 has been made in political negotiations.

Although fighting in Yemen has subsided, the country's health sector remains at risk of collapse, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. 40 percent of the country's health facilities are closed or only partially functional. According to the WHO, the health crisis is exacerbated by an increase in outbreaks of measles, diphtheria, dengue fever, cholera and polio. 

The ongoing cholera outbreak and other outbreaks have created additional challenges for people already in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. In December 2024, the World Health Organization reported that Yemen bore the highest burden of cholera in the world in 2024. According to a WHO report, approximately 250,000 suspected cases of cholera were reported, with more than 860 associated deaths since the beginning of the year, accounting for 35 percent of the global cholera burden and 18 percent of the global reported mortality.

The rate of child malnutrition is one of the highest in the world, and the nutrition situation is improving only slightly. An estimated 2.7 million children in Yemen are acutely malnourished, including nearly 540,000 children under the age of five suffering from severe acute malnutrition. 49 percent of children under the age of five - some 2.5 million - suffer from stunting or chronic malnutrition, which causes irreversible damage to long-term physical and cognitive development. In 2023, child mortality slightly improved following years of sustained humanitarian assistance.

The current level of hunger in Yemen is unprecedented. Half of the country's population faces acute food insecurity. 17.6 million people in Yemen will experience high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025, driven mainly by conflict, economic decline and climate change. This number includes 6.1 million people in emergency levels of hunger. Between 2022 and 2024, food security improved moderately. However, this progress is extremely fragile and could reverse quickly if aid agencies are forced to reduce or suspend programs due to funding shortfalls.

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

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced in December 2023 that it would suspend the general distribution of food in the areas of Yemen controlled by the authorities in Sanaa. The main reason for the suspension was the limited financial resources and the lack of an agreement with the authorities on a reduced program that would allocate the available funds to the neediest families. Sanaa and the northern regions of Yemen are under the control of the Ansar Allah movement - also known as the Houthi group. In areas of Yemen controlled by the government, the general distribution of food continued.

According to the latest IPC food security analysis, released in October 2024, nearly half of the population, or 4.7 million people, in government-controlled areas of Yemen experienced high levels of acute food insecurity between July and September 2024, classified as IPC Phase 3 (crisis levels) or worse. This figure does not include people facing crisis levels or worse in Houthi-controlled areas.

The situation in government-controlled areas was projected to improve slightly, with 4.6 million people expected to be in Phase 3 or worse during the projection period between October 2024 and February 2025. Of these, 1.1 million people are expected to face emergency levels of food insecurity (Phase 4) and 3.5 million people are expected to face crisis levels of food insecurity.

According to a 2023 household survey, food security had slightly improved in October 2023 compared to the previous month and October 2022. Nevertheless, food insecurity remained widespread in Yemen; around 51 percent of households surveyed in government-controlled areas and 46 percent in Houthi-controlled areas were unable to meet their minimum food needs. 

At least 19.5 million people in Yemen – more than half of the country’s population – need humanitarian aid and protection in 2025. Among them are 9.8 million children in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Over the past year, the humanitarian situation has remained dire or worsened in large parts of the country, with 1.3 million more women, children and men in need of relief than in the previous year. In 2024, 18.2 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance. 

The 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Yemen appeals for US$2.47 billion to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to 10.5 million of the most vulnerable people in need.

Lack of adequate funding continues to undermine efforts to meet critical needs across Yemen. 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 last year - 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 nine 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. 

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 have largely been 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 nine-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, 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.

Recent 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. 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.

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.

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: 18/01/2025

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