The United Nations will need a record $41 billion next year to provide aid to 183 million highly vulnerable people in 63 countries.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report Thursday that it sees demand for humanitarian aid skyrocketing worldwide due to the pandemic, climate change and conflict.
The organization expects that by 2022 a total of 274 million people will need some form of help from the organization. That is 17 percent more than in 2020, which was also a record year for the amount of humanitarian aid.
All in all, 1 in 29 citizens of the world will need help, an increase of 250 percent from 2015 when 1 in 95 citizens needed help.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths says the number of people in need “has never been higher”. He emphasizes that providing aid to so many people is not sustainable in the long term but that the organization has little choice.