Data on this page is as of 1 December 2022. Current data can be found on the Home page
Response Plans: Overview for 2023
One in every 23 people now needs humanitarian assistance. In 2023, a record 339 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection – a significant increase from 274 million people at the beginning of 2022. The UN and partner organizations aim to assist 230 million people most in need across 69 countries, which will require $51.5 billion.
Expanding global humanitarian needs, rising operational costs and commodity prices and high inflation in 2023 are contributing to a significant rise in requirements. For example, the World Food Programme’s monthly food procurement costs are now 44 per cent higher than before the pandemic.
Evolution of People in Need (2015-2023)
Improved stability in Libya is leading to a phased-out exit by humanitarians, resulting in the country not requiring a fully fledged HRP in 2023. In Iraq, diminishing humanitarian response and increased efforts to achieve durable solutions with and through development partners have lifted the country out of the list of the most severe humanitarian situations.
As the food crisis in East Africa looms, the East and Southern Africa region now has the largest number of people in need (76.8 million), followed closely by Asia and the Pacific, where just three crises account for all the people in need - Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar.
Response plans: Overview for 2023 per region
This year, there are ten countries and four regional plans with requirements of more than $1 billion each. Together these appeals make up $39B of the total requirements.
Response plans are increasingly longer, larger and higher in number.
In Ukraine, the largest humanitarian cash assistance programme in history is expected to transfer $1.7 billion in 2022 to 6.3 million people — a huge increase from 11,000 people the year before, which amounts to nearly 600 times more people. In addition, the Ukraine regional response in 2023 will combine both a humanitarian and refugee response plan, aiming to support 13.6 million people with a total requirement of $5.7 billion.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has its largest request to date, with a total of $2.3 billion in 2023 — a 20 per cent rise compared to 2022. Net increases in prices are a challenging reality across the country — the high price of fuel has made it more expensive to reach vulnerable people in remote areas, and food and commodity prices at local markets have rocketed, especially for imported products. By the end of 2022, 6.2 million people received assistance in the country.
Haiti has seen an increased requirement up to $715 million for 2023 — due to growing humanitarian needs, the cholera response (for which a $146 million Cholera+ Flash Appeal was launched on 15 November 2022), and inflation – which stands at a staggering 30 per cent and is boosting the cost of humanitarian operations. In the gang-controlled commune of Cité Soleil, around 65,000 people were assisted with food and 2,000 with water between 22 July and 28 October 2022.
In Ethiopia, the worsening drought and impact of conflict and violence in parts of the country and resulting waves of displacement mean that 28.6 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2023. While the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement in November 2022 is a promising step to scale up humanitarian assistance, the humanitarian situation is not expected to stabilize in 2023 due to yet more forecasts of poor rainfall and the ongoing effects of conflict and violence.
Eastern Afar, Ethiopia,
Fatima walks across dry ground with a water container. In eastern Afar, Ethiopia, the community at the outskirts of the town of Eli Dar have been experiencing the impact of drought. The land that would normally provide a year or more worth of water for the village dried up 6 months ago and temperatures in the area are into the 40s C.
OCHA/Liz Loh TaylorLebanon has seen a 59 per cent increase in financial requirements to $600 million, caused by the unprecedented economic and financial crisis and the resulting increase in humanitarian needs. The country is experiencing major increases in the prices of basic commodities, with the price of wheat flour increasing by nearly 330 per cent since 2019.
In Mozambique, the number of people in need has increased by a third. Conflict in Cabo Delgado is driving forced displacement and placing enormous levels of strain on the country’s host communities. Humanitarian partners have provided life-sustaining assistance to 1.4 million people in 2022, including malnutrition treatment, food assistance, protection services and access to safe drinking water.
Afghanistan has seen an overall increase of people in need, now at 28.3 million people. Continuing droughts have caused a dramatic increase in WASH needs, and the policies of the de facto authorities, particularly on women’s participation in society, have driven a 25 per cent increase in protection needs. In 2022, humanitarians helped 27.2 million people in Afghanistan with some form of assistance, and they are reaching communities in all of the country’s 401 districts.
Hewad Mena, Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan
Zahra, 10, washes hands at a new water tap near her home in Hewad Mena, Maidan Wardak Province.
“I used to walk one hour to bring water and I had to stand in the queue for one or two hours to get water,” says Zahra. “I would feel tired after bringing water and could not find time to do my school assignments.”
With funding support from Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), UNICEF completed a solar-powered water supply network in a settlement for displaced Afghans in Maidan Wardak Province, which now provides 24-hour access to clean water for over 500 families and 3,800 people in the settlement.
UNICEF/SherzaiEvery month in Yemen, an average of 10.6 million people were reached with humanitarian assistance. This includes food assistance for 15 million people who were classified as being the most vulnerable to food insecurity in 2022.
In Central America, while El Salvador and Guatemala’s humanitarian caseloads are decreasing, the situation in Honduras has worsened, with 31 per cent of the population needing humanitarian assistance. The surge in irregular migrants transiting through South and Central America, triggered by political, social and economic upheaval in several countries in the region, is overwhelming the reception capacity of many countries and fuelling an unprecedented rise in humanitarian and protection needs.
In Myanmar, the response for 2023 will focus on life-saving activities in conflict-affected areas, with 4.5 million people targeted. This follows an exceptional expansion of the HRP scope in 2022 to prevent backsliding from the combined impacts of the military takeover and COVID-19. In 2023, resilience will be mostly addressed via nexus and development activities. The end of 2022 has seen most development partners restarting paused programmes, allowing humanitarian partners to return to core life-saving responses, especially in rural areas.
References
- All 2023 data is as estimated in November 2022. For current data, please visit the operations pages at www.humanitarianaction.info/