UN refugee agency warns funding crisis could leave 8.3 million without aid
UNHCR says up to 8.3 million refugees and displaced people could lose assistance this year, calling it one of the worst funding crises in its history.
The United Nations refugee agency warned on Tuesday that a deepening funding crisis could leave nearly 8.3 million refugees and forcibly displaced people without access to assistance this year, and push protection systems in some countries towards collapse.
UNHCR is facing one of its worst-ever funding crises after aid cuts by the United States and other countries. A new 26-page agency report puts the funding gap at $5.789 billion, with money available falling 24% between 2024 and 2025. As of July, UNHCR had received only 32% of the $8.505 billion it requires in 2026, while global displacement remains near record levels — the population under its mandate is expected to reach 131.2 million by year end, up from 129.4 million at the end of last year.
“Below a certain threshold, the system doesn’t shrink, it fails,” the agency said.
The impact is already visible: in Chad, 319,000 people face registration delays while 200,000 women and girls could lose access to safe spaces and prevention programmes. In Sudan — the world’s worst displacement crisis, its civil war now in its fourth year — about 140,000 refugees and asylum-seekers remained unregistered by mid-year. In Afghanistan, returnee grants have been slashed from $375 to $170 per person amid over one million returns this year from neighbouring countries including Iran and Pakistan.
Having already cut its workforce by 33% in 2025, closed offices in 140 locations and discontinued operations in 15 countries, UNHCR says further savings cannot close the gap.
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