Global aid needs will surge in 2022

The UN warned yesterday that the need for humanitarian aid was skyrocketing worldwide, as the pandemic continues to rage, and climate change and conflicts push more people to the brink of famine.

The United Nations' humanitarian agency OCHA estimated that 274 million people worldwide would need some form of emergency assistance next year, up 17 percent on an already record-breaking 2021.

That means one in 29 people will need help in 2022, marking a 250-percent-increase since 2015 when one in 95 needed assistance, OCHA found in its Global Humanitarian Overview report.

The number of people in need "has never been as high as this", UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told reporters.

Providing aid to so many "is not sustainable, but it has to be sustained," he said.

The annual appeal by UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations said that providing aid to the 183 million most vulnerable people across 63 countries next year would require $41 billion -- up from the $35 billion requested for 2021 and double what was requested just four years ago.

The report presented a depressing picture of soaring needs brought on by conflicts and worsening instability in places like Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

Natural disasters and climate change also drove up displacement and humanitarian needs, as did the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, it found.