Skip to main content

Yemen: 2017 Humanitarian Needs Overview [EN/AR]

Countries
Yemen
Sources
UNCT Yemen
+ 1 more
Publication date

NEEDS & KEY FIGURES

An estimated 18.8 million people in Yemen need some kind of humanitarian or protection assistance, including 10.3 million who are in acute need. Escalating conflict since March 2015 has created a vast protection crisis in which millions face risks to their safety and basic rights, and are struggling to survive.

KEY HUMANITARIAN ISSUES

Impact of the crisis

More than 19 months of conflict have devastated Yemen, leaving 18.8 million people in need of humanitarian and protection assistance – including 10.3 million who are in acute need. The conflict is rapidly pushing the country towards social, economic and institutional collapse.

Conflict and chronic vulnerabilities

Even before March 25, 2015, when the conflict in Yemen escalated, the country faced enormous levels of humanitarian need, with 15.9 million people requiring some kind of humanitarian or protection assistance in late 2014. These needs stemmed from years of poverty, under-development, environmental decline, intermittent conflict, and weak rule of law – including widespread violations of human rights.

The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance rose consistently from 2012 to 2014, while real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita – already the lowest in the Arab world – fell by just under 50 per cent from 590 USD to 326 USD per capita between 2012 and 2015 and by almost 35 per cent in 2015 alone. Since the escalation of conflict, government authorities estimate that GDP per capita has contracted by about 35 per cent and that inflation has risen by 30 per cent. The impact has squeezed the coping mechanisms of vulnerable families even further, leaving more people in need of humanitarian assistance.

More than 19 months of conflict have exacerbated chronic vulnerabilities leaving an estimated 18.8 million people in need of humanitarian and protection assistance – a nearly 20 per cent increase since late 2014. This includes 10.3 million people in acute need, who urgently require immediate, life-saving assistance in at least one sector. Due to the conflict, which has caused a pervasive protection crisis, forced displacement, severe economic decline, and the collapse of basic services and institutions, humanitarian needs have risen sharply in all sectors. This chapter addresses these underlying factors and their impact on the overall humanitarian situation; sectorspecific needs analyses appear in Part 2 of the HNO.

Widespread protection crisis

The conduct of hostilities has been brutal. As of 25 October 2016, health facilities had reported almost 44,000 casualties (including nearly 7,100 deaths) – an average of 75 people killed or injured every day. These figures significantly undercount the true extent of casualties given diminished reporting capacity of health facilities after 19 months of war and many people’s inability to access healthcare at all. UN Member States, UN organizations, humanitarian partners and human rights organizations, have outlined serious concerns regarding the conduct of the conflict, in which violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law have been committed by all parties to the conflict.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.