A total of 23.7 million people in Afghanistan are in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance in 2024, reflecting the fragile stabilization of the country’s situation, primarily due to the reduction in conflict, an improved harvest and climate outlook, related marginal decreases in food insecurity, and relative micro-economic and price stability.
Economic instability, drought-like conditions and the deteriorating rights of women and girls are the primary drivers of humanitarian needs in Afghanistan today. Needs have also been amplified in recent months by a set of major earthquakes in Herat Province in October and the increase in Afghan returns from Pakistan since mid-September. WASH needs, particularly lack of clean water, and protection are the largest drivers of sector-specific needs. The transition from provincial-level to district-level needs analysis and targeting for the 2024 HNRP, along with effective boundary settings and prioritization, has resulted in more granular understanding of the severity of needs, and informs more efficient targeting. With humanitarian needs estimates approximately 20 per cent lower than in 2023, this year’s analysis is based on a more rigorous methodology for estimating how many people require assistance and the severity of their needs. The reduction should in no way be interpreted as an ‘improvement’ in Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation, which remains grave, but rather in the context of boundary setting and stricter interpretation of humanitarian needs. Making this distinction is particularly important in the context of Afghanistan where the protracted nature of the crisis has increasingly seen humanitarian actions – and, by extension, humanitarian financing – used to bridge gaps in public services such as basic healthcare and education.