Syria conflict: UN in record humanitarian aid appeal
The UN has asked for $16.4bn (£10.5bn; 13.3bn euros) for its aid operations in 2015, with the largest single sum - $7.2bn - going to help Syrian refugees.
Its last annual humanitarian appeal was for $13bn, making the new request a record for the organisation.
The request comes as aid agencies warn they are running out of cash to fund this year's operations.
Last week the World Food Programme announced it would have to cut food rations to Syrian refugees.
In its new appeal, the UN is requesting $2.8bn to help those displaced by the conflict inside Syria. It is seeking another $4.4bn to help more than 3,250,000 refugees registered in neighbouring countries.
Last year, Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic figured large in UN aid operations.
Since then, the conflict in Ukraine, the rise of Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria, and the Ebola epidemic have added to the aid demand.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told reporters in Geneva: "We are facing needs at an unprecedented level.''
'New thinking'
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says humanitarian relief never happens overnight - aid agencies need to plan, but to do that they need cash.
Food and medical supplies for refugees have to be purchased in advance, and field hospitals have to be delivered and built.
The appeal for 2015 is sure to reflect the multiple crises around the world and the enormous challenges facing the UN agencies as they try to help those caught up in them, our correspondent adds.
"We are talking about 78 million people in 22 countries that would need help in 2015," UN deputy aid official Kyung-wha Kang was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
"The funding requirements of that will be much bigger."
She added that the UN was seeking "innovative out-of the-box" ideas for how to raise funds.
She suggested the "wall" between funding for humanitarian aid and development financing could be "made more flexible".
Where Syrian refugees are concentrated
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