Emergencies and crises

Conflict and forced displacement account for the majority of these crises, and an estimated 274 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in 2023. In five countries, more than half the population is in need of humanitarian assistance. The number of internally displaced people worldwide increased for the eighth consecutive year in 2020 (to a total of 82.4 million people), the majority of whom were internally displaced (48 million internally displaced people in 2020).

The combination of conflict, acute food insecurity and the consequences of climate change make crises more complex, while health threats and epidemics have a greater impact on countries in crisis: cholera, although easily treated and prevented, kills nearly 100,000 people every year and there are still more than 400,000 malaria-related deaths each year (90% in sub-Saharan Africa, killing more people than the conflict in CAR). Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented global challenge since 2020, both in terms of scale and complexity. Already under strain, the humanitarian system has to adapt to meet the needs of people affected by the pandemic and the consequences of policies to contain it.

Crises exacerbate the inequalities and vulnerabilities faced by women and girls, but the lack of gender-disaggregated data masks the extent of these.