Global hunger levels remain alarmingly high. At least 37 million people are on the brink of famine or are already experiencing famine conditions. Although the world produces more than enough food to feed everyone, more than eight percent of people worldwide still go hungry. In 2024, over 295 million people were acutely food insecure and in urgent need of assistance, with armed conflict being the primary cause of acute hunger.
A new joint United Nations report warns that people in five hunger hotspots — Sudan, Palestine (Occupied Palestinian Territory), South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali — face extreme hunger, starvation, and death in the next five months unless urgent humanitarian action is swiftly taken to de-escalate conflict, stop displacement, and provide full-scale aid.
More than half of all children living in conflict areas in 2021 – an estimated 230 million – lived in the deadliest conflict countries, a 9% increase from the previous year, reveals new analysis from the humanitarian organization Save the Children International released today. High-intensity conflict zones are defined as conflict zones with more than 1,000 battle-related deaths in a year. The report also shows that about 449 million children worldwide were living in a conflict zone in 2021, a slight drop from the previous year.
DONARE FAQs presents a selection of frequently asked questions about humanitarian crises, introducing the basic features and contexts of humanitarian emergencies.
Hunger and child malnutrition rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2024, pushing millions of people to the brink in some of the world's most fragile regions, according to a new report released Friday. The 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) shows that conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes and forced displacement are fueling food insecurity and malnutrition around the world, with catastrophic consequences for many regions.
Extreme weather events linked to the climate crisis, such as storms, floods, droughts and wildfires, have displaced 43.1 million children in 44 countries over a six-year period, according to a new United Nations report. The analysis by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), released Friday, finds that an average of 20,000 children were displaced every day between 2016 and 2021.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that the global hunger crisis is deepening. The organization expects 318 million people to face crisis-level hunger or worse next year — more than double the number in 2019. However, the world's response remains "slow, fragmented, and underfunded."
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued a stark warning for global food security, estimating that every one percent cut in food assistance risks pushing more than 400,000 people towards the brink of starvation. Tuesday’s warning comes as WFP, the biggest recipient of humanitarian funding, is in the midst of a crippling financing crisis that is forcing the organization to scale back life-saving assistance at a time when acute hunger globally reached record levels.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning of a looming halt to its food and nutrition assistance to 1.4 million crisis-affected populations in Chad – including newly arrived Sudanese refugees - due to funding constraints. Today's warning comes as aid agencies scramble to respond to a fresh wave of Sudanese refugees fleeing the unimaginable humanitarian crisis unfolding in neighboring Darfur amid reports of mass killings, rapes, and widespread destruction.
Amid rising global humanitarian needs, the European Commission has announced on Wednesday that its initial annual humanitarian aid budget will grow to €1.7 billion in 2023, an increase of about €200 million compared to the previous year. In 2022, the European Union's (EU) initial humanitarian aid budget was €1.5 billion.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) released its annual Emergency Watchlist on Wednesday, spotlighting the 20 countries most likely to face escalating humanitarian needs in the coming year. According to the dire ranking, the top five crises are Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Myanmar, Syria and South Sudan, as war and climate change fuel new and ongoing humanitarian emergencies around the world.
According to the latest data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), cholera has been surging across the continent since January 2025, with 206,789 cases and 4,330 deaths reported. The outbreak is affecting nearly half of the continent's countries, marking a sharp rise in both cases and geographical spread compared to 2024. The overall case fatality rate (CFR) stands at 2.1 percent, underscoring the deadly nature of the outbreak.
With an estimated 300 million people in need of humanitarian aid in 2024, the European Union (EU) has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the world's most vulnerable people. The European Commission (EC) announced on Monday that it had approved an initial annual humanitarian aid budget of more than €1.8 billion (US$1.93 billion) for this year, a slight increase of about €100 million compared to the previous year. In 2023, the European Union's (EU) initial humanitarian aid budget was €1.7 billion.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that halfway into 2023, it has only received 20 percent of the US$54.8 billion it needs this year to help people in need around the world. At the same time, the World Food Programme (WFP) continues to cut emergency food aid to millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance due to severe funding constraints.
Next year will set another record for humanitarian relief requirements, with 339 million people in need of assistance in 69 countries, an increase of 65 million people compared to the same time last year, the United Nations (UN) and humanitarian partner organizations said today. The estimated cost of the humanitarian response going into 2023 is US$51.5 billion (EUR 49.3 billion), a 25 per cent increase compared to the beginning of 2022.
In 2024, 299.4 million around the world will need humanitarian assistance and protection, due to conflicts, climate emergencies, collapsing economies, and other drivers. The United Nations today launched its global humanitarian appeal for 2024, calling for US$46.4 billion to help 180.5 million people with life-saving assistance and protection, a significant reduction compared to 2023.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), humanitarian operations in Niger are currently on hold following the attempted coup in the country. The United Nations, the United States, the West African economic bloc ECOWAS, the African Union and the European Union have called for the release of Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, after a group of soldiers claimed to have removed him from power Wednesday. President Bazoum has urged democratic forces in the country to resist the power grab.
Many of the hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who seek protection, asylum or work in Europe each year are "at great risk of harm and death" because few protection services are available to help them on their perilous journeys, according to a report released this week by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
International donor funding to alleviate hunger in the world's neediest countries plummeted in 2023, despite exacerbating global food insecurity reaching record highs, aid agencies warn. Humanitarian appeals for the 17 countries bearing the brunt of food insecurity suffered a staggering funding gap of 65 percent last year, up 23 percent from 2022, according to an analysis released this week by the humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has released US$125 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to boost underfunded humanitarian operations in fourteen countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East. Afghanistan and Yemen top the recipient list with $20 million each.
