Global Humanitarian Overview 2025, August Update (Snapshot as of 31 August 2025)
09 Sep 2025
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Summary
Inter-Agency Coordinated Appeal: August Update
People in Need
300M
People Targeted
181M
Requirements (US$)
$45.48B
Appeals
43
Inter-Agency Appeals Funding (US$)
$8.63B
Appeals Coverage
19%
Total Humanitarian Funding (US$)
$14.75B
People Urgently Prioritized
114M
Urgently Prioritized Requirements (US$)
$29B
As of end-August, the 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) presents consolidated funding requirements of $45.48 billion to assist 181 million of the 300 million people in need across 73 countries. To date, only $8.63 billion has been reported, representing just 19 per cent of current financial requirements. This marks a 40 per cent decrease over the $14.47 billion recorded at the same time last year.
In parallel, total humanitarian funding reported to the Financial Tracking Service (FTS) stood at $14.75 billion, compared to $19.43 billion at the end of August 2024, a 24 per cent year-on-year decline. In June, the results of the GHO hyper-prioritization exercise were presented, identifying $29 billion in funding needs to support 114.4 million people with assistance and protection. For the latest figures, please consult Humanitarian Action.
Appeals Funding Gap (2020-2025)
Widening Funding Gap Threatens Humanitarian Response
The current gap for global humanitarian appeals has reached nearly $37 billion, the largest ever recorded. This unprecedented shortfall is undermining the humanitarian system's ability to deliver essential, life-saving assistance. In Somalia, for example, millions of people who are affected by conflict and climate shocks and have relied on humanitarian aid for decades, are losing their only source of support. Food deliveries have sharply declined or stopped altogether, leaving many to go to bed hungry in a country where 4.6 million people already face acute hunger. Water trucking to remote, drought-prone villages has ceased, and childhood malnutrition is expected to rise as vital nutritional supplements are no longer available. Access to healthcare has declined with over 150 clinics affected. The 3.5 million Somalis who are displaced from their homes and depend on humanitarian aid for survival are receiving much less assistance than they require. In Mozambique, the cost of delayed or insufficient action is measured not only in financial terms, but in human lives and dignity. In recent months, the country has faced a relentless cascade of emergencies—worsening conflict in the north, recurrent and intensifying climate shocks such as cyclones and drought, and the resurgence of deadly disease outbreaks—all against the backdrop of a persistent shortfall in humanitarian funding. In Cameroon, key sectors, including nutrition, food security, health, water, hygiene and sanitation, and education have received less than 15 per cent of the funding required this year. Severe funding cuts have led to a significant reduction in assistance to the 2.1 million people targeted by the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). A recent report by the Global Protection Cluster shows that “the current funding available for protection does not match the scale of existing protection risks. In 2024, the funding gap amounted to 51 per cent, and projections for 2025 suggest a wider gap – with some crises facing a potential shortfall of 86 per cent. This is more than a financial shortfall; it represents a systemic failure to respond to life-threatening risks. While the full impact remains to be seen, early projections already raise serious concerns.”
New Ukraine Winter Response Plan
As Ukraine braces for another harsh winter amid escalating hostilities and continued strikes on critical infrastructure, the United Nations and partners have launched the Ukraine Winter Response Plan (October 2025 – March 2026). Building on the Re-Prioritization of the Ukraine 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, the Winter Response Plan seeks $278 million to deliver lifesaving, multisectoral assistance to 1.7 million of the most vulnerable people facing extreme cold during this period.
The response prioritizes people most at risk – including displaced persons, people with disabilities, the elderly, and families near frontlines or in collective sites. Assistance will include home insulation, heaters, fuel, blankets, warm clothing, cash for utilities, and coordinated winter support in high-risk areas. A protection-focused monitoring framework will guide flexible, needs-based adaptation informed by heating data, site assessments, and reports from local authority. The response also incorporates lessons learned from previous winters and will be closely coordinated with winterization efforts led by other humanitarian actors and the Government to ensure coordinated, non-duplicative and prioritized supported based on vulnerability.
Progress on the response in Ukraine can be tracked via two dedicated dashboards:
Timely donor support, including to the Ukranian Humanitarian Fund remains critical to enable early procurement and pre-positioning of humanitarian supplies, ensuring swift and efficient delivery to those in need. The humanitarian community is deeply grateful for the generous contributions received from donors and partners to date and which continue to make a tangible difference in the lives of millions.
Norway is a proud supporter of Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPF). These funds play a crucial role in enabling a timely and coordinated humanitarian response in countries facing immense challenges. In Ukraine, the CBPF has demonstrated the importance of locally led responses by empowering national and local organisations to deliver aid where it is needed most. Norway encourages other partners to join us in supporting CBPFs to ensure that crisis-affected communities benefit from humanitarian response that is well-coordinated, locally-led, and reaches those with the greatest needs.
Svein Michelsen
Director, Section for Humanitarian Policy and Longterm Development Initiatives, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
Humanitarian Needs and Response Plans (2025): Funding Status at end-August
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Country Focus: Occupied Palestinian Territory
The humanitarian catastrophe in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has reached unprecedented levels, with famine now confirmed in Gaza governorate and spreading to other areas, while the West Bank faces its worst deterioration in decades with intensifying settler expansion and military operations.
In Gaza, nearly two years of bombardment have killed over 63,000 Palestinians and wounded over 160,000 more, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, while displacing over 767,000 people since March 2025. Intense military operations and ongoing displacement orders have confined many of Gaza’s residents to overcrowded areas comprising less than 14 per cent of the territory, without adequate shelter and essential services. According to the IPC report published on 22 August 2025, over 513,000 people are in famine (IPC Phase 5), projected to expand to over 640,000 by the end of September. Ongoing hostilities, a breakdown of law and order and persistent restrictions on aid entry and delivery have severely compromised the humanitarian response. The healthcare system operates under extreme strain, short of medical supplies and personnel, amid an increasing influx of patients suffering from severe malnutrition, casualties from military offensives and infectious diseases.
In the West Bank, the situation has deteriorated to its worst in decades, with escalating humanitarian and protection concerns. Israeli operations continue to use war-like, lethal tactics and settler violence has sharply increased. The Israeli government's approval of new housing units for settlers adds risks severing the northern and central West Bank from the south, with serious humanitarian consequences and heightened displacement risks for Palestinian Bedouin communities.
As of end-August, only $957 million (23.5 per cent) of the $4.07 billion required to assist 3.3 million people across Gaza and the West Bank was received. Last year at the same time, $1.6 billion (47 per cent of requirements) had been provided.
The OPT Humanitarian Fund (OPT HF), managed by OCHA is one way to meet the funding gap. By supporting life-saving interventions, strengthening coordination through the cluster system, and expanding access in hard-to-reach areas, the Fund ensures principled, accountable, and collaborative humanitarian action. For more information on the OPT HF see the link.
From our own history, Jersey knows the importance of timely humanitarian assistance. As a proud supporter of the oPt Humanitarian Fund, we see our resources reaching those whose lives have been shattered by the ongoing conflict. We urge all donors, large and small, to support a mechanism that is rapid, flexible and strengthens local capacity.
Deputy Carolyn Labey
Minister for International Development & Jersey Overseas Aid Chair
Evolution of people in need and targeted (2020 - 2025)
Occupied Palestinian Territory Funding Gap (2020 - 2025)
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Pooled Funds
Total 2025 Allocations (US$)
$966.7M
Countries Assisted with 2025 Allocations
34
In August 2025, the OCHA-managed Pooled Funds allocated grants across seven countries amounting to $57.1 million to enable essential and life-saving humanitarian assistance. Of this amount, the Country and Regional Funds allocated $44.1 million while the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated $13 million.
Total income projections to the CERF remain worryingly low at $414.4 million.
For the Country and Regional Humanitarian Pooled Funds, total donors' contributions by the end of August amounted to $657 million, compared to $761 million in August 2024.
For more information about allocations, please visit the CBPFs’ Data Hub and CERF's website
CENTRAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND
Allocations endorsed by the ERC as of 31 August 2025
August Allocations (US$)
$13M
Total 2025 Allocations (US$)
$245.9M
Countries Assisted with Allocations in August
2
Allocations in focus: In August, CERF allocated $9 million to scale up humanitarian efforts in Haiti’s Centre and Artibonite departments. The funding responds to a sharp rise in displacement from Port-au-Prince, where escalating gang violence has forced thousands to flee. The crisis is deepening amid the collapse of essential services, food systems, and security, alongside a surge in deportations from the Dominican Republic. The CERF allocation will deliver life-saving assistance across key sectors, including food security, health, WASH, protection, shelter, and camp management, focusing on internally displaced persons, deportees, and host communities. By improving access to basic services, the response aims to strengthen the capacity of local communities and authorities while catalyzing additional resources to meet growing needs in rural areas.
CERF Allocations
COUNTRY-BASED POOLED FUNDS
Allocations launched by 31 August 2025
August Allocations (US$)
$44.1M
Total 2025 Allocations (US$)
$720.8M
Countries Assisted with Allocations in August
6
Allocation in focus: In August, the Sudan Humanitarian Fund launched a $10 million Reserve Allocation and a $9 million Standard Allocation in response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in North Darfur. Widespread displacement, collapsing public services, and Sudan’s worst cholera outbreak in years have left millions without reliable access to food, water, or healthcare. The $9 million Standard Allocation supports a phased, area-based response following the April attack on Zamzam IDP camp. Priorities include protection, cholera containment, basic health and WASH services, and flexible support in nutrition, shelter, and camp management. In parallel, the $10 million Reserve Allocation replenishes the prepositioning of funding for a rapid response mechanism designed to deliver rapid, short-term interventions within 48 hours across key life-saving sectors including health, WASH, nutrition, shelter, food security, and protection. Both allocations build on previous allocations from the Fund and CERF, aiming to expand response capacity in hard-hit areas, improve humanitarian access, and strengthen coordination in conflict-affected parts of North Darfur.
CBPF Allocations
Pooled Funds Impact Story
Pooled Fund support helps local Ukrainian NGO reach millions of evacuees
Ukraine.
When war broke out in Ukraine, businessman Dmytro Myshenin’s life changed overnight. Forced to flee Slovyansk in February 2022, he and his family began evacuating people from occupied areas in Donetsk and Luhansk. “Human life is precious,” he said. “Every effort must be focused on saving it.”
At first, they used their own cars and fuel, but resources soon ran out. To continue, they created Angels of Salvation (AOS) – named for the volunteers who stepped in to help. One evacuee, Olena, recalled how the group saved her from constant shelling in her hometown.
What began as a small group grew into an organization with more than 600 staff and volunteers. In 2023, AOS became a direct recipient of funding from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF), which assessed its capacity and provided support for institutional growth, safety equipment and training.
“Following the assessment, the UHF gave AOS the opportunity to develop its own tools and follow its vision,” said Dmytro. “I never imagined I’d be heading a foundation delivering assistance to over six million people in three years.”
The UHF pilot programme helps national NGOs like AOS access direct funding by lowering entry barriers and adapting requirements to local realities. This has enabled local responders to lead humanitarian action, reach front-line communities faster, and provide more effective aid.
Lightly edited from an original story by OCHA Ukraine
For more information: visit the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, and for real-time contribution and allocation data go to the Pooled Funds Data Hub.
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