The overall humanitarian situation in Ethiopia has improved significantly over the past two years, but 21.4 million people were still in need of emergency assistance in 2024. Millions of Ethiopians remain displaced by conflict, insecurity, and climate-related shocks such as droughts or floods, as well as other natural disasters such as earthquakes. Ethiopia faces multiple drivers of instability. Years of drought and conflict have left millions of Ethiopians without enough to eat. Many have no water, medicine, food or shelter and fear for their lives.
The world is facing a relentless series of crises, ranging from devastating natural disasters and protracted conflicts to ongoing public health emergencies. While immediate physical needs such as food, water, and shelter dominate the response, there is a growing recognition that something equally vital is often overlooked: mental health.
Medical humanitarian assistance and support for health services are urgently needed in crises around the world. A UN agency and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) specialize in providing health care in humanitarian crises or in the urgent delivery of medicines to people affected by conflicts and disasters.
The humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado continues to force people to flee their homes. Hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced due to violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups (NSAGs), and hundreds of thousands of returnees in conflict-affected areas continue to be highly vulnerable. An estimated 5.2 million children, women, and men across Mozambique are in need of humanitarian aid in 2025, including some 1.3 million in Cabo Delgado and neighboring Niassa and Nampula provinces. Mozambique is also highly susceptible to climate shocks and frequent natural hazards such as drought, floods and tropical storms.
The Central African Republic (CAR) has been one of the world's most neglected humanitarian crises for several consecutive years. Ravaged by violence since 2012, the country remains in dire need of support. Conflict, epidemics, and climate disasters continue to disrupt the lives of people in CAR, leaving 2.3 million people — more than one-third of the population — in need of humanitarian aid this year.
Within weeks, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created one of the largest humanitarian disasters globally. As of November 2025, more than 53,000 civilians were recorded killed or wounded as a result of the war. Violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law occurring in the course of the ongoing armed attack are widespread. As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches the four-year mark, people in Ukraine continue to be killed, wounded and deeply traumatized by the violence. Civilian infrastructure on which they depend continues to be destroyed or damaged.
The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are suffering from one of the most complex and protracted humanitarian crises, with 21.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2025. At the same time, the DRC faces one of the world's most neglected displacement crises, with more than 8 million women, children, and men in the country forced to flee their homes. For decades, the DR Congo has endured multiple, overlapping crises, mainly driven by conflict and forced displacement, both of which are having devastating consequences. Since the start of 2025, the longstanding instability and insecurity in eastern DRC has escalated as the M23 rebel group stepped up fighting and seized large territory in North and South Kivu provinces.
The United Nations and its humanitarian partner organizations, alongside the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), launched this year's Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) on Wednesday. They are calling on donors across the world for a funding total of US$1.4 billion, which would provide assistance to 7.3 million people in a country where nearly 15 million still need humanitarian aid — a figure that is widely considered underestimating the actual need.
In September 2024, hostilities in Lebanon were massively escalated by Israel, with thousands of airstrikes carried out widely across Lebanese territory. On November 27, a fragile ceasefire agreement came into effect. The escalation of the war caused significant civilian casualties and injuries, and triggered mass displacement, with more than 1.7 million people forced to flee. Before the recent deterioration of the situation throughout Lebanon, the country was already in the grip of a protracted humanitarian crisis.
The North of Central America (NCA) – also called the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) – is a sub-region comprising El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and one of the most dangerous places on earth. Nicaragua is bordering the Northern Triangle. Gang violence, threats, extortion, persecution and sexual violence have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in search of safety. In 2025, more than 4.6 million people in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are in need of humanitarian aid as the three countries continue to face violence, food insecurity, extreme weather events and mixed movements of refugees and migrants.
The Syrian conflict has caused immense human suffering for people both inside and outside the country. Since 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and maimed, and millions have been forced to flee their homes. In December 2024, Syria experienced a dramatic turn of events when rebel forces took control of the capital, Damascus, and President Bashar al-Assad resigned and fled the country following a swift offensive across Syria. This raised hopes that the 14-year civil war was coming to an end. Although Syria entered a new era in 2025, the humanitarian crisis is far from over.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns again that the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is deepening as conflict continues in many parts of the country and fighting escalates in Rakhine State. OCHA said on Friday that civilians continue to face extreme protection risks, acute food insecurity and a near total collapse of essential public services.
An even deeper humanitarian crisis is looming in Afghanistan as hundreds of thousands of Afghans are forced to return from neighboring countries and the global humanitarian funding crisis takes a heavy toll on the country. Numerous United Nations agencies have announced drastic cost-cutting measures in response to massive shortfalls in funding, following brutal cuts by the new US administration in Washington.
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners, together with the Government of Somalia, launched the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Somalia on Wednesday. The plan, which requires US$1.43 billion, aims to support some 4.6 million of the country's most vulnerable people out of 5.98 million in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection this year.
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.
In Haiti, millions of people need humanitarian aid to combat hunger amid a deteriorating security situation. Armed gangs control or influence up to 90 percent of the capital, and gang violence has spread throughout the Caribbean country. Haiti has a long history of natural disasters and remains highly vulnerable to hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. In 2026, an estimated 6.4 million people — more than half of Haiti’s population — will require emergency humanitarian assistance.
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners released the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Burkina Faso on Tuesday, supporting the country's national humanitarian efforts. The HNRP requests US$658.5 million for key sectors, including food security, health, and essential services, as approximately 4.5 million people require humanitarian assistance.
Myanmar faces multiple and overlapping humanitarian emergencies caused by persecution, protracted armed conflict, intercommunal violence, and natural disasters such as earthquakes and cyclones. These needs have continued to mount due to ongoing armed violence and political unrest since the February 2021 military coup. The situation remains dire, with an estimated one-third of the country's 55 million people in need of assistance by 2026. In March 2025, Myanmar was struck by a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake — the largest to hit the country in over a century.
