Aid cuts deepen global humanitarian crisis in 2025

2025 has become a year many aid groups describe as a new world disorder, as rich nations pull back on financial aid, wars persist and rule-breakers face little consequence. The trend follows 2024, when the Peace Research Institute Oslo counted 61 wars across 36 countries—the most since World War II. Aid workers warn that wars are lasting longer and that illicit actors are taking advantage of the chaos to trade weapons or resources. Food insecurity has surged: Save the Children estimated that 60 million children were left starving this year, with 11 million in emergency hunger. The World Food Program projects that in 2026, 318 million people will face crisis-level hunger or worse, roughly twice the number seen in 2019.

Sudan stands as the starkest example. More than two years of civil war have driven famine conditions and mass displacement. Bob Kitchen, IRC’s vice president for emergencies, told officials at Addis Ababa airport after visiting a camp in Darfur that 60% to 70% of the population is urgently in need of humanitarian assistance, and that more people are in Phase 5, the most severe category of famine, than anywhere else in the world, including Gaza before its ceasefire. The war has also degraded the logistics of aid delivery: much of the assistance must be trucked from Chad over a mountain pass—a 45-mile journey that takes three days. The 2025 Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan sought $4.2 billion to assist people inside Sudan and another $1.1 billion for refugees in neighboring states. The scope reflects not only displacement on a massive scale but the fact that much of the aid must reach recipients in places where infrastructure is almost non-existent, requiring shelter, food, water, latrines, education and clothing.

Climate shocks compound the crisis. New analyses from FEWS NET project that up to 3.5 million people in Kenya and up to 5 million in Somalia will need humanitarian food assistance at least through May 2026, driven by record heat and low rainfall. At the same time, 2025 has seen a broad withdrawal of humanitarian and development funding from poorer nations by richer countries. USAID, once a major conduit of aid—about $44 billion in 2023—was ordered to stop its work and its responsibilities folded into the State Department. Cuts have also been announced by the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden, a group that accounts for roughly 43% of global economic output.

As the year ends, aid agencies warn of the real consequences. The World Food Program says it can feed only about 110 million people—roughly one-third of those in need. Oxfam’s modeling of the USAID shutdown estimates that 95 million people could lose access to basic health care and 23 million children could be pushed out of school. Mercy Corps reported it had shut down 42 programs, affecting 3.6 million people. In Kenya, Maurine Murenga, head of Lean on Me, said the suspension of standalone HIV clinics after the stop-work order has contributed to a rise in new infections among children; pregnant women have to rely on general outpatient departments where expertise in HIV prevention is limited. Similar strains are felt in Uganda and among survivors in Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Looking ahead, donors, aid groups and governments face a sobering assessment. The Sudan plan already sits short of what is needed, and WFP says ration reductions will begin in January, with communities facing famine receiving 70% of their typical rations and those at risk of famine receiving 50%. A WFP official warned that by April, funding shortfalls could prompt a cliff in operations, with the humanitarian response pulled back from major markets just as needs intensify. Advocates say the convergence of protracted conflict, climate variability and shrinking aid budgets marks a structural shift in humanitarian relief that may persist into 2026 and beyond.