As 2026 begins, just over 239 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection amidst entrenched conflicts that are more violent against civilians and lasting longer than at any time since World War Two, and a climate crisis that is escalating unabated. From Haiti to Myanmar, Ukraine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), horrifying violence, hunger, displacement and disease are tearing people’s lives apart—killing and maiming civilians, waging war on the bodies of women and girls, separating families, forcibly uprooting people from their land and livelihoods, fueling the spread of diseases and devastating their mental and physical health.
There are two main drivers of urgent humanitarian needs globally, both of which are man-made and could be reversed with concerted and collective action.
Conflict is the main cause of death, displacement and hunger
- Civilians are enduring a record number of armed conflicts marked by increased flagrant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights, including mass atrocities and attacks on health and learning facilities. At least 56,000 civilians were killed in conflict between January and mid-October 2025. More than two years into the Israeli offensive in Gaza, OPT, 69,785 people have been killed, according to Ministry of Health figures, while a recent study estimated that the violent death toll is likely more than 100,000 people. In Sudan, a 500-day siege was followed by the killing of thousands of civilians in El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces, while similar dynamics are playing out in Kordofan entering 2026, with lack of respect for civilian life and freedom of movement. In Myanmar, increased killings, razing of villages, and mass forced displacement have been reported. The spread and intensification of cholera outbreaks have also been driven by conflicts, notably in Chad, DRC, Sudan and South Sudan. In 2025, three out of every four civilian fatalities in conflict worldwide has occurred in countries with a humanitarian plan or appeal.
- As wars increasingly move into cities, the rising use of explosive weapons in populated areas is having catastrophic consequences. Civilians continue to make up 90 percent of those harmed by explosive weapons in populated areas and civilian casualties from explosive weapons rose by 69 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, predominantly due to the war in Gaza, OPT. Attacks by explosive weapons in residential areas and markets can also disproportionately affect women in contexts where they have the primary responsibility for buying food and household goods at markets. Meanwhile, the withdrawal of Member States from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Ottawa Convention and the Convention on Cluster Munitions—which ban anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions respectively—marks a dangerous retreat from international humanitarian law and weakens fundamental norms for the protection of civilians. Globally, over 84 per cent of landmine victims are civilians.
Kharkiv, Ukraine
A boy stands beside a school damaged in an attack, highlighting the ongoing risks children face as schools in Ukraine continue to come under fire. Drone attacks in conflict settings increased by 4,000 percent between 2020 and 2024.
UNOCHA/Iryna Chernysh- The accelerating integration of emerging technologies into armed conflict is amplifying already intensifying risks. The use of drones is making conflict more accessible and more asymmetric: between 2022 and 2024, the number of companies making drones has exploded from six to over 200. Drone attacks in conflict settings increased by 4,000 percent between 2020 and 2024, and more than quadrupled between 2023 (4,525 attacks) and 2024 (19,704). The proliferation of drones is also threatening life-saving humanitarian aid. Until 2022, fewer than 10 drone-related incidents affected healthcare or aid delivery each year, while in 2024 there were over 300 such incidents. Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence has significant implications for the way wars are waged. If algorithms are trained in overly permissive targeting rules, the result will be death and destruction among civilians at greater speed and on a larger scale.
- Conflict trends in recent years—including widespread violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) by Member States and armed groups and impunity for international crimes—risk eroding protection of civilians everywhere. ICRC has warned that, unless negative trends—including broadening the notion of who or what constitutes a lawful target, the idea that IHL obligations depend on reciprocity, and the dehumanization of fighting forces of the enemy, and civilian populations—are rapidly reversed, IHL risks becoming a justification for violence rather than a shield for humanity. The unequal application of IHL and advocacy for compliance, which was pronounced in 2025, also risks respect for humanitarian principles, aid workers and organizations in future conflicts.
Renk County, South Sudan
A child who fled the conflict in Sudan is screened for malnutrition at a UNICEF-supported clinic.
UNICEF/Mark Naftalin- More than 295 million people face high acute food insecurity (IPC/CH Phase 3 and above) across 53 countries and territories—a sixth consecutive annual increase and nearly three times the number recorded in 2016. Famine (IPC Phase 5) re-emerged, driven by conflict in Gaza, OPT and parts of Sudan in 2025, with a risk of Famine emerging in parts of South Sudan. Around 1.2 million people faced catastrophic levels (IPC/CH Phase 5) of acute food insecurity in 2025 across six countries and territories, primarily in Gaza, OPT and Sudan, followed by Haiti, Mali, South Sudan and Yemen. Afghanistan, DRC, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia and Syria are of very high concern with deteriorating conditions and large populations already facing Emergency levels of acute food insecurity. Conflict represents a principal driver of food insecurity for 14 out of 16 hunger hotspots where acute food insecurity is likely to worsen. It plays a major role in driving the catastrophic or extremely severe conditions affecting people in hotspot countries at the highest concern level. Food insecurity significantly undermines protection; when individuals or communities lack reliable access to sufficient and nutritious food, they may resort to harmful strategies such as child labor, child marriage, or transactional sex to survive.
- Over 117 million people are forcibly displaced by conflict and violence, including 42.5 million refugees. Sudan remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, while internal displacement doubled in Haiti from September 2024 to October 2025 and rose significantly in Myanmar and South Sudan. Lack of respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) is fueling mass arrivals of refugees in certain places: Chad hosts 1.47 million refugees, of whom almost 900,000 have arrived since the conflict in Sudan started in 2023 and some 260,000 in 2025 only. While the global number of people forcibly displaced has dropped due to an increase in returns, including to and within the DRC, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan, those making long and fraught journeys home require assistance and risk mitigation, support and solidarity during their travel and upon arrival.
Around 520 million children—more than one out of five children in the world—are living in or fleeing conflict zones. Explosive weapons are killing children on a scale never seen before as wars increasingly move into cities and grave violations against children are on the rise. In OPT, a staggering 64,000 children have reportedly been killed or maimed across Gaza in two years, and around one quarter of people facing life-changing injuries in Gaza are children. In Sudan, the siege of El Fasher became an epicentre of child suffering, with more than 1,100 grave violations reported in El Fasher alone, including the killing and maiming of over 1,000 children. In 2024, boys accounted for the majority of children affected by violations, facing significantly higher risks of recruitment, killing and maiming. Meanwhile, girls continued to suffer from sexual violence but the number of boys affected by sexual violence surged by 125 percent compared to the previous year. The highest numbers of grave violations against children were verified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Nigeria, OPT and Somalia in 2024.
- Some 676 million women now live within 50 kilometres of deadly conflict, the highest level since the 1990s and conflict-related sexual violence increased by 87 per cent in two years. In Haiti nearly two-thirds of the cases of sexual violence involve gang rape. In the DRC, children accounted for up to 45 per cent of nearly 10,000 reported cases of rape and sexual violence in just two months (January-February 2025), during which time, “a child was raped every half an hour.”
Bangladesh
A Rohingya adolescent girl holds an awareness booklet during a protection session focused on rights and personal safety.
IOM/ Hossain Ahammod MasumClimate change is worsening disasters and geological events are impacting communities already in crisis
Because the world has not moved fast enough to cut emissions, it is now inevitable that the 1.5 C threshold will be breached in the coming years, ushering in a period of 'overshoot' that threatens to drive more lost lives and livelihoods. It is expected that 2025 will be the second or third hottest year on record after 2024, marked by weather extremes: floods in West Africa and Asia, drought in South America, and heatwaves and wildfires across the globe. Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall across Cuba and Jamaica in October 2025, was one of the most powerful landfalling hurricanes ever recorded. A hurricane such as this is approximately four times more likely to occur in today’s climate as compared to a pre-industrial time. As of November 2025, 219 weather-related disasters were recorded, affecting at least 49 million people and causing thousands of deaths. Meanwhile, geological events—especially earthquakes—are increasingly impacting communities already in crisis. In Afghanistan, on 31 August 2025, a 6+ magnitude earthquake and several aftershocks struck Nangarhar and Kunar provinces in the east, killing over 2,150 people and causing widespread destruction of homes along the mountainous slopes and valleys. In Myanmar, two devastating earthquakes struck on 28 March 2025, killing 3,800 people, injuring 51,000, destroying thousands of homes and disrupting communications, water access and electricity supply. Globally, three in four people who are forcibly displaced live in countries facing high-to-extreme exposure to climate-related hazards and weather-related disasters have caused some 250 million internal displacements—equivalent to around 70,000 displacements per day—over the past ten years. Taken together, the crises of 2025 underline how climate risks can have their greatest impacts in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
- When development or political action fails, crises become protracted. Conflict duration has nearly doubled in the past thirty years: the average duration of conflicts that ended in 1990 was around 16 years, while in 2020 it was over 30 years. Since 2010, conflict termination rates have declined by 25 per cent while recurrence rates have risen 44 per cent compared to 1990 to 2009. Around 204 million people live in areas controlled or contested by armed groups globally—74 million under full control and 130 million in contested areas. Meanwhile, resources for peace and conflict prevention in contexts facing high and extreme fragility are at their second lowest level since 2004 and development and climate financing remains lowest in countries with the highest fragility and vulnerability. As a result, international humanitarian action in 75 per cent (18 out of 24) HNRP countries has lasted more than 10 years. Humanitarian action in the absence of robust development and political action cannot provide solutions or significantly strengthen resilience.
Mandalay Region, Myanmar
A teacher stands amid the ruins of his former classroom destroyed by the earthquake.
UNICEF/ MinzayarAmidst this devastation, humanitarians have worked incisively to identify just over 239 million people in 50 countries who have been hardest-hit by crises and face the most severe needs, requiring humanitarian assistance and protection in 2026. This year’s Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) is built on a refined methodology that pinpoints where and who has been most affected by shocks—including conflict, climate and geological disasters, epidemics and animal and plant pests and diseases—and determines the most critical needs within these areas. As a result, the overall number of people in need included in the GHO 2026 is lower than in 2025, reflecting more focused analysis, rather than a reduction in suffering.
Regional Breakdown of People in Urgent Need (2026)
The 2026 GHO will include less plans and appeals than in 2025, resulting in a drop in People in Need within the GHO. Seven countries that were responding to time-limited climate emergencies, natural disasters or conflict will conclude their humanitarian response plans/appeals by the end of 2025, and therefore, people in need in these plans/appeals are not included in GHO 2026. In Central America, three countries have transitioned out of the Humanitarian Programme Cycle and partners are focused on bolstering development action, while responding to persistent humanitarian needs. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is sunsetting the Regional Refugee Response Plans (RRRP) for the Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan situations due to a strategic shift towards a sustainable response approach, implemented in close partnership with governments and host communities. Increased emphasis will be placed on select country-level plans that include these populations and support longer-term, nationally anchored responses. While the Ukraine Regional Refugee Response Plan will run until the end of 2026, its activities are now more focused on resilience and it is therefore not included in GHO 2026. Combined, these country and regional plans accounted for about 50 million people in need in 2025.
The people facing the most urgent, crisis-driven, needs captured in GHO 2026 therefore represent the tip of the iceberg of global suffering. Beyond humanitarian crises, millions of people are enduring needs driven by other causes, including deep-rooted economic challenges, while over 1.1 billion people in 109 countries now face acute multi-dimensional poverty, most of whom live in countries that do not have humanitarian plans or appeals but that may face different states of fragility. More than 400 million children globally live in poverty, missing out on at least two daily needs such as nutrition and sanitation, and it is forecasted that more than 351 million women and girls could still be living in extreme poverty by the end of the decade if current trends persist. The outlook for these people may worsen unless they receive concerted attention and support—both domestically and globally—focused on securing political will to end conflict, eradicating poverty, eliminating marginalization, bringing sustainable development to those left furthest behind in line with the 2030 Agenda, and climate adaptation.
References
- Internal analysis based on ACLED data. Data downloaded 13 October 2025. Based on ACLED definitions, to calculate the number of civilian fatalities in conflict, two dimensions were summed: “violence against civilians” plus “explosions/remote violence”, the latter with the filter “civil targeting” enabled. The countries included in the calculation were all countries with a HNRP in 2025 or equivalent plus OPT, which had a flash appeal. It is likely that the total number of civilian casualties is higher than the numbers available at the time of reporting.
- Based on EM-Dat Cred data, downloaded on 13 November 2025. Final figures for 2025 likely to increase. For reference, in 2024, there were 393 natural hazard-related disasters recorded affecting 167.2 million people.
- COP30 by UN Humanitarian
- acs-2021-04-essay-2---aftermath-of-armed-conflicts.pdf
- Global Termination and Recurrence Macro Trends: A Follow-Up to Licklider and Dixon: Civil Wars: Vol 25 , No 2-3 - Get Access
- https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2025/10/30/icrc-engagement-with-armed-groups-in-2025/
- https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/states-of-fragility-2025_81982370-en/full-report.html
- https://oecd-development-matters.org/2024/12/14/understanding-fragility-why-should-the-eu-care/
- https://www.cordaid.org/en/publications/why-urgent-climate-action-in-fragile-settings-matters/
- Internal calculation based on cumulative, consequence years of an appeal in for countries with an HNRP in 2025 (plus Lebanon and OPT). The 18 countries where appeals have run consecutively for 10 years are: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, DRC, Haiti, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, OPT, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
- Left to Bridge the Gap: Humanitarian Assistance in Politically Estranged Settings | Center on International Cooperation
- Intersectoral severity, as defined in the Joint and Intersectoral Analysis Framework (JIAF) represents the degree of humanitarian needs and protection risks that populations face, ranked on five tiers. Intersectoral severity 5 is the highest level of concern denoting catastrophic humanitarian conditions and severity 4 denotes extreme humanitarian conditions. The GHO includes people living in areas classified as intersectoral severity 3 or above as “people in need” of humanitarian assistance.
- This includes Bangladesh (cyclone and monsoon), Malawi (drought), Mozambique (cyclone/drought), Philippines (cyclone), Viet Nam (typhoon Yagi), Zambia (drought) and Zimbabwe (drought).
- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras
- It is possible that in certain instances People in Need removed as a resulted of a concluded plan in 2025 may have been reincluded under a new or different plan in 2026.