Underfunding
Underfunding
Former refugee Jeanne and her family received reintegration support from UNHCR after returning home to Burundi from the DRC.
Despite proactive measures to mitigate budget shortfalls, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, faces a severe funding crisis. Global humanitarian contributions to UNHCR dropped by 24% between 2024 and 2025, falling from $5.178 billion to $3.932 billion.
In 2026, UNHCR requires $8.505 billion to support an estimated 131.2 million forcibly displaced and stateless people across the globe. Yet, as of 31 July 2026, only $2.716 billion (32%) has been received, leaving a staggering $5.789 billion funding gap.
Protection cannot be rationed. You cannot deliver 60% of a legal status or half a safe house. Below a certain threshold, the system doesn’t shrink – it fails.
The consequences go beyond a reduction in the scale of assistance. With current funding levels, nearly 8.3 million forcibly displaced and stateless people risk losing access to direct assistance provided by UNHCR in 2026.
Underfunding forces impossible trade-offs: refugee registration and documentation are delayed, safe spaces and services for survivors of gender-based violence are closing, and child protection programmes are being scaled back or suspended. These are not simply reductions in the amount of assistance available. When essential protection systems fall below a critical level, they can no longer provide the safeguards people depend on – leaving refugees, displaced and stateless people more exposed to violence, exploitation, exclusion and renewed displacement.
The impact can extend far beyond the immediate crisis, reversing years of progress towards self-reliance, inclusion and sustainable solutions and ultimately increasing longer-term humanitarian and development costs.
Explore the 2026 underfunding report:
Funding gaps in key thematic areas | USD millions
Sustained funding is essential to protect progress and solutions
Compounding this crisis, tightly earmarked funding has risen sharply from 19% in 2022 to 51% of all contributions up to 31 July 2026. While UNHCR has made every effort to prioritize core protection and solutions activities, the scale of the funding shortfall means that needs are increasingly outpacing available resources. Sustained and predictable funding is essential to maintain critical protection and solutions activities and respond to growing needs. Flexible funding, particularly unearmarked contributions, enables UNHCR to direct resources where they are most urgently needed – including to emerging emergencies, underfunded operations and critical protection and solutions systems.
UNHCR urgently calls for a renewed commitment from donor governments, development actors, and private sector partners for predictable and flexible funding to support people forced to flee, stateless people, and the communities that host them. Every contribution matters, helping to address urgent needs today while preserving essential protection capacity and sustaining pathways towards self-reliance, inclusion and lasting solutions open.
Explore how flexible funding makes an immediate impact across global operations.
Explore the current funding gap of UNHCR
Previous editions of Underfunding Reports
Previous editions of Underfunding Reports are available in the dropdown menu below. Each edition includes an overview, financial tables, and case studies illustrating where and how funding gaps impact operations. Please select a publication to view or download.
