According to a new report from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) released Thursday, Sudan is not only the world’s largest displacement crisis, but also the most neglected. The non-governmental organization (NGO) warns that neglected crises are particularly affected by brutal cuts to humanitarian funding by donors such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
As of June 2026, about 14 million people in Sudan are still displaced due to ongoing warfare and earlier armed conflict. Of those, about 9 million remain displaced within Sudan's borders, while nearly 5 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries due to ongoing warfare or previous conflict. Nearly 19.5 million people inside Sudan are facing acute hunger, yet the international response remains wholly inadequate for this scale of suffering.
Source: Karl Schembri/NRC
“It is incomprehensible that a displacement crisis of similar proportions to the crises in Syria and Ukraine at their peak can continue to worsen almost unnoticed,” said NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland in a statement on Thursday.
“Just as needs in Sudan skyrocketed last year and famine kept spreading, the funding was cut. Many displaced people receive no international support and are left to beg for assistance from other displaced people who no longer have anything more to share.”
The ten most neglected displacement crises
Each year, NRC publishes a list of the ten most neglected displacement crises worldwide. The purpose is to shine a spotlight on people whose suffering rarely makes international headlines and who receive no or inadequate assistance and rarely become the focus of international diplomatic efforts.
According to the 2025 report, the ten most neglected crises are in (1) Sudan, (2) the Democratic Republic of Congo, (3) Colombia, (4) Yemen, (5) Afghanistan, (6) Honduras, (7) Ecuador, (8) Cameroon, (9) Nigeria, and (10) Mozambique. These crises span three continents and affect tens of millions of people who continue to be ignored by the world.
For the 2025 list, 35 crises were analyzed based on four criteria: lack of funding, lack of media attention, lack of effective international political and diplomatic initiatives, and scale of displacement.
DR Congo on list of crises for tenth consecutive year
Since 2017, NRC has published the list annually, tracking how responses continue to fall short of the scale of suffering in the ten most neglected displacement situations worldwide. For the tenth consecutive year, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo, DRC) has appeared on the list, and the level of neglect there is deepening.
“This is a testament to the world's failure to respond to crises that are not regarded as strategically important for rich countries,” said Egeland.
“Millions of people are being abandoned because we have chosen not to act, not because we cannot. The uncomfortable truth is that this neglect is a choice, and something we can choose to end.”
In 2025, only 27 percent of the necessary funds to address the crisis in DR Congo were provided, marking the lowest rate in 10 years and leaving over 21 million people in need with drastically reduced or no assistance at all. A decade ago, the international community provided 55 US$ per person in need in the DRC, but today that figure has collapsed to under 33 US$.
The Ebola outbreak currently spreading across eastern DR Congo was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) in May 2026. However, this outbreak is unfolding in communities already devastated by years of displacement and humanitarian neglect.
“Behind every statistic in eastern DR Congo are families who have endured years of violence, repeated displacement, and deep uncertainty about their future,” said Eric Batonon, NRC’s country director in DRC.
“While attention shifts from one global emergency to another, millions of Congolese continue to live without adequate protection, assistance, or hope. The fact that DR Congo remains among the world’s most neglected crises for the tenth consecutive year should serve as a wake-up call to the international community.”
Reports show a "systemic pattern of deliberate neglect"
While DR Congo has appeared on this list every year since its inception in 2016, countries such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Mali, and Nigeria have all been featured six or more times, indicating a “systemic pattern” of deliberately ignoring crises rather than isolated failures.
NRC stresses that, with rare exceptions, crises ignored a decade ago are still being ignored today.
Since the NGO began publishing this report 10 years ago, 27 crises across four continents have appeared on the list, and the pattern is clear. The African continent features the most consistently. From the Sahel region to the Horn of Africa and from the Great Lakes to West Africa, many of these crises involve prolonged or repeated displacement.
“Donor governments have been presented with evidence of neglect, year after year. Yet those in power still choose to prioritize military and strategic investments and underfund, deprioritize and sideline the victims of these crises. It is a failure of our humanity,” said Egeland.
In 2025, only US$16 billion in humanitarian funding was provided globally, despite a total requirement of more than $45 billion, leaving a funding gap of more than $29 billion, or two-thirds.
At the same time, total military spending in 2025 reached $2.63 trillion, or roughly $7.2 billion per day, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Last year's global humanitarian funding equaled roughly one percent of overall global military spending in 2025.
“Fund crises based on humanitarian need and scale of displacement, not geopolitical interest”
The humanitarian organization urges donor governments to fund crises based on humanitarian need and the scale of displacement rather than geopolitical interest. The organization also calls on political leaders and diplomats to seriously engage with the root causes of protracted displacement, many of which persist precisely because they are seen as having little geopolitical importance.
NRC also urges media organizations to report on these crises consistently and in depth as ongoing emergencies.
“The crises ignored today will demand a larger, costlier and more complex response tomorrow,” said Egeland.
“The world does not lack for skills nor resources. Be it arranging football World Cups, or pioneering space exploration: our ability to organize and overcome challenges is almost without limit. We can and must finally take the decision to end the neglect that has caused such deep suffering for millions of people”.
Further information
Full text: The world's most neglected displacement crises, 10th edition, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), report, released June 4, 2026
https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/neglected-2025/the-worlds-most-neglected-displacement-crises.pdf