Yemen emergency
After more than six years of conflict, Yemen remains the world's largest humanitarian crisis and millions of displaced Yemenis are only a step away from famine.
Ongoing conflict has displaced four million Yemenis , devastated the country and fractured its health services and food supplies, leaving 66 per cent of the population dependent on humanitarian aid.
Over 20 million
People in need of humanitarian aid in Yemen
Over 4 million
Internally displaced people in Yemen
137,000
Refugees and asylum-seekers in Yemen, mainly having fled the Horn of Africa
Last updated 01 March 2021
“UNHCR and its partners are ready to stay and deliver in Yemen. People across the country are fighting for their survival between COVID-19 and a brutal conflict that has left them hungry, without access to medical care, and living in dire conditions. The time is now, more than ever, to save lives with your help.”
Jean-Nicolas Beuze, UNHCR Representative to Yemen
Fighting in Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, has severely compounded needs arising from long years of poverty and insecurity. The worsening violence has disrupted millions of lives, resulting in widespread casualties and massive displacement, and the situation is rapidly deteriorating.
Civilians bear the brunt of the crisis, with more than 20 million Yemenis now in need of humanitarian assistance. Those forced to flee their homes are especially at risk. More than 4 million people now languish in desperate conditions, away from home and deprived of basic needs.
The risk of a large-scale famine in the country has never been more acute. Tens of thousands are already living in famine-like conditions, with a staggering 5 million more just one step away from it. Displaced families are four times more at risk of famine than the rest of the Yemeni population.
Yemen is facing a humanitarian catastrophe. Without help, many more lives will be lost to violence, treatable illnesses or lack of food, water and shelter.
What is UNHCR doing to help?
We provide life-saving aid to displaced Yemenis, as well as to refugees and asylum-seekers, across the country.
Under the humanitarian coordination system in Yemen, we lead in the provision of protection, shelter and non-food items. We provide cash assistance for displaced people to cover their most urgent needs such as food and medicine, emergency shelter, and core relief items such as mattresses, blankets, sleeping mats, kitchen sets, solar lamps and more to help those displaced and most vulnerable. Our assistance reaches people in need in all 20 governorates affected by the conflict.
Our shelter kits, mats and plastic sheets help families repair homes damaged in the conflict and provide some privacy and protection to those living in collective buildings. We support health facilities that serve refugees, asylum-seekers and Yemenis affected by violence, and we work to prevent and control the spread of cholera, which has arisen as a result of the conflict. As well as helping protect families against COVID-19 by distributing hygiene kits and providing safety information across the country.
We provide legal and cash assistance as well as psycho-social support to help those affected by the war, along with a wide range of protection services such as prevention of gender-based violence and specific interventions focusing on women and children.
We also continue to protect and support more than 137,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from the Horn of Africa, who remain in Yemen despite the conflict and are particularly at risk.
However, limited funding for our work in Yemen means we are not able to fully address these massive needs, limiting our capacity to provide life-saving relief.
More information:
• Data on arrivals from Yemen in other countries
• Yemen – latest updates