People needing aid to survive hunger jump 40% due to pandemic, UN study shows

The coronavirus pandemic is pushing the number of people worldwide who need humanitarian assistance to survive to new highs, dramatically increasing the ranks of extreme poverty in just one year, the UN says.

One in 33 people will need aid to meet basic needs such as food, water and sanitation next year, a jump of 40% from 2020, the UN reported in its Global Humanitarian Overview 2021.

That is 235-million people worldwide, with concentrations in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, the

Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, it said.

“The crisis is far from over,” UN secretary-general António Guterres said. “Humanitarian aid budgets face dire shortfalls as the impact of the global pandemic continues to worsen.”

Countries gave a record $17bn in 2020 for collective humanitarian response, reaching 70% of the people targeted for aid, an increase of 6% compared with 2019, the report said.

But the UN warned that it had raised less than half of the $35bn needed to stave off widespread famine, fight poverty and keep children in school and called on

$35bn the money needed to stave off famine, fight poverty and keep children in school, of which the UN has raised less than half

wealthy countries for financial contributions.

“The rich world can now see the light at the end of the tunnel,” UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said. “The same is not true in the poorest countries.”

The report said countries around the world had made steady advances since the 1990s in reducing extreme poverty — defined by the World Bank as living on $1.90 a day or less.

The UN calculations showing one in 33 people needing assistance compared with one in 45 people in 2020, already the highest figure in decades, it said.

School closures have affected nine out of 10 children worldwide, with almost 24-million at risk of not returning to school in 2020, the UN said.

As the pandemic impedes food supply systems, hunger is on the rise, and the UN projected that by the end of 2020, as many as 270-million people will lack reliable access to food.

The cost of meeting food aid needs across the world in 2020 was $9bn, up from $5bn in 2015, the report said.

The coronavirus has infected 62.6-million people and killed 1.46-million people worldwide, according to a Reuters tally.