Amid the deepest funding cuts ever to hit the international humanitarian sector, the United Nations relief chief presented a global "hyper-prioritized" appeal on Monday, which aims to help 114 million people facing life-threatening needs worldwide. The US$29 billion plan further prioritizes, but does not replace, the 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO), which was launched last December.
“We have been forced into a triage of human survival,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher.
“The math is cruel, and the consequences are heartbreaking. Too many people will not get the support they need, but we will save as many lives as we can with the resources we are given.”
The GHO covers more than 70 countries and territories with humanitarian needs, including countries hosting refugees. It aims to assist nearly 180 million vulnerable people out of approximately 300 million who are in need of humanitarian aid and is currently calling for $44 billion. As of today — nearly halfway through the year — only $5.6 billion — less than 13 percent — has been received.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), two key goals have been the focus when reprioritizing the individual country plans:
First, reaching the people and places facing the most urgent needs using a scale that ranks the severity of humanitarian need. Areas classified as level 4 or 5 — "indicating extreme or catastrophic conditions" — were the starting point.
Second, life-saving support was prioritized based on planning for the 2025 humanitarian response, ensuring limited resources are directed "where they can do the most good — as quickly as possible."
OCHA said that humanitarian aid agencies have maintained a focus on protection in their reprioritized response plans. Rather than limiting lifesaving aid to a fixed list, the agencies have focused on meeting the most urgent needs in ways that respect the dignity of those affected, including providing cash assistance, when possible, to allow people to choose what they need most.
“Brutal funding cuts leave us with brutal choices,” Fletcher said today.
“All we ask is 1 percent of what you chose to spend last year on war. But this isn’t just an appeal for money – it’s a call for global responsibility, for human solidarity, for a commitment to end the suffering.”
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), total military spending in 2024 was $2.46 trillion—equivalent to $6.74 billion per day. The hyper-prioritized appeal seeks $29 billion, which equates to about 1.2 percent of global military spending in 2024 and even less in 2025, as military spending is rising worldwide.
Meanwhile, millions of lives worldwide are at risk due to the critical crisis in global humanitarian funding.
Funding cuts to humanitarian aid by the new United States administration, which took office at the end of January 2025, have triggered the deepening crisis. The US administration has eliminated most American humanitarian funding and is dismantling the world's largest government aid agency.
Global humanitarian funding plummeted in 2025 due to these extreme US funding cuts. However, other major donors, such as the United Kingdom and Germany, have also scaled back their support. Although global funding has been declining since 2022 despite rising needs, this year's levels are expected to reach record lows.
The situation is so dire because the United States has been the largest donor of humanitarian aid for years. In 2024 alone, the US government provided over 40 percent of all humanitarian assistance tracked by the United Nations. Its sudden withdrawal from this critical role has left a void that cannot be filled without additional funding or radical measures.
The consequences of the funding cuts are already being felt across the globe. Humanitarian organizations, including UN agencies and non-governmental aid organizations, have been severely impacted and have responded with severe cutbacks, including suspending programs that are essential to saving lives and alleviating human suffering for those in the greatest need.
Despite the immense suffering of people worldwide, many countries are turning inward, making drastic cuts to humanitarian funding while ignorance, nationalism, and xenophobia are on the rise. Instead of providing life-saving support to those most in need around the world, countries like the United Kingdom are increasing spending on arms.
Further information
Full text: A hyper-prioritized Global Humanitarian Overview 2025: the cruel math of aid cuts, GHO Special Edition, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), report
https://humanitarianaction.info/document/hyper-prioritized-global-humanitarian-overview-2025-cruel-math-aid-cuts