Millions will get no support due to ‘alarming gap’ in global humanitarian assistance

The UN’s Global Humanitarian Overview for 2025 has predicted that 305 million people worldwide will need humanitarian assistance next year. The UN and humanitarian partners have asked for $47.4 billion to meet the needs of 189.5 million people, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has reported.

“Realistically, given announced and expected funding cuts from major donors and the fact that the 2024 appeal is still less than 44 per cent funded, we expect the number of people reached to be even lower,” said OCHA.

To put the needs into some sort of perspective, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) pointed out that military spending globally reached $2.44 trillion in 2023 (Statista), and Meta alone made $47.4bn before tax in the fiscal year 2023.

“The Global Humanitarian Overview reflects an alarming gap between the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance globally, and the number we are able to support,” said Camilla Waszink, Director of Partnership and Policy at the NRC. “It is devastating to know that millions of people in need will not receive necessary assistance next year because of the growing lack of funding for the humanitarian response. With a record number of conflicts ongoing, donors are cutting aid budgets that displaced and conflict-affected people rely on to survive.”

Waszink pointed out that at a time when the richest people on earth can go to space as tourists and trillions of US dollars are used annually on global military expenditure, it is “incomprehensible” that the international community is unable to find the necessary funding to provide displaced families with shelter and prevent children from dying of hunger.

“There is an urgent need for a revamp of global solidarity,” she added. “Existing donor countries must ensure assistance keeps pace with needs and inflation, and emerging economies should compete to become among the most generous donors in the same way they compete to host expensive international sports events.”

Donors, insisted Waszink, must also ensure necessary support for the most neglected and underfunded crises, so that money is not taken from the assistance to people in places like Sudan or Mali, to meet needs in Ukraine or Gaza. “Conflicts and a blatant disregard for protection of civilians are driving massive humanitarian needs. It is essential that donors provide funding, but they must also invest in ending conflicts, bringing violations to a halt and preventing new needs from developing.”

Since last year, there has been a change in how numbers of people in need of humanitarian assistance are calculated. “The UN has adopted a narrower definition of ‘humanitarian needs’ than in previous years to offer what it believes is a more realistic assessment of priorities,” explained the NRC. “It is thus important to be aware, that the relatively stable figure of people in need of humanitarian assistance compared to last year (305 million now vs 300 million last year) does not mean that humanitarian needs are unchanged or have improved. On the contrary, many places the situation has worsened significantly.”

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