Early donor support tops $1 billion for 2026, but widening funding gaps leave millions at risk

GENEVA – Donors today pledged $1.161 billion to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to provide life-saving protection, assistance and solutions in 2026 to millions forced to flee. This is slightly above the amount pledged last year for UNHCR's operations in 2025, which was an all-time high.

With an additional commitment of $350 million from UNHCR’s National Partners, which raise funds from the private sector, the total announced at today’s pledging conference in Geneva is $1.5 billion, covering almost 18 per cent of UNHCR’s projected funding needs for next year. Several governments also confirmed multi-year contributions extending into 2027 and beyond, strengthening UNHCR's long-term planning. Additional contributions are expected in the coming months, including from some governments whose budget rules do not permit them to make advance pledges.

Amid tight financial pressures on humanitarian actors globally, this timely support underscores continued confidence from States in UNHCR’s work to protect, assist and find solutions for refugees, returnees and stateless people.

“This year’s drastic funding cuts – neither necessary nor inevitable – have been deeply counterproductive, leading to more instability and less protection, assistance and hope,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “Today’s commitments show that the world has not turned its back on people forced to flee, and that support for refugees endures. Early and flexible funding gives us the lifeline we need to move quickly when new emergencies erupt and to keep delivering solutions in neglected crises.”

Top government contributors included Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway, alongside substantially increased contributions from Ireland, Luxembourg and Iceland. The European Union also confirmed a significant amount of funding that had already been committed for 2026. UNHCR further welcomes Austria and Spain to the group of governments pledging support to UNHCR.

While welcome, the pledges for 2026 highlight a worrisome trend as the percentage of unearmarked funding pledged has dropped to 17 per cent, nearly half of what it was in 2023. At the same time, the proportion of funding earmarked for specific countries and activities has increased, which impacts UNHCR’s capacity to allocate funds where needs are greatest.

Norway, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland pledged the largest amounts of unearmarked funding. These are funds UNHCR can use where needs are greatest, including during sudden emergencies and large-scale displacement.

Amid the steep funding shortfall this year, UNHCR teams remain on the ground, forced to prioritize which vulnerable people receive support and to focus limited resources on the most critical needs. In the first six months of 2025, flexible funding helped us reach over 8 million people with services such as legal assistance, documentation and child protection, provide more than 6 million health consultations, expand water and sanitation access to nearly 5.9 million people, and support millions more with relief items, cash and shelter.

However, funding cuts have had dire consequences. Protection services in Afghanistan, primarily for women and girls, were cut by more than half. In South Sudan, 75 per cent of safe spaces for women and girls closed, while in Lebanon, more than 83,000 refugees lost shelter assistance.

“We urgently need sustained, flexible funding to preserve hard-won gains in areas such as education, child protection, and efforts to prevent and respond to sexual violence,” said Grandi. “Most refugees long to return home, and many have done so this year. With strong donor backing, we can help make these returns safer and more sustainable and ensure that host countries are not left to shoulder the responsibility alone.”

In the first half of 2025, an estimated 7 million displaced people were able to return home, including two million refugees, the highest figure in a decade. Although many did so in adverse circumstances, these returns are a reminder that solutions are possible even in complex crises.

Notes to editors:

UNHCR’s Global Appeal 2026 sets out the organization’s plans for the coming year and the funding it needs to protect, assist and empower a record number of forcibly displaced and stateless people, and to help them find solutions to their situations.

The 2026 Global Appeal presents a needs-based budget of $8.504 billion, around 20 per cent lower than in 2025. This is not a reflection of reduced needs – as UNHCR aims to support an expected 136 million people forced to flee, stateless people and returnees worldwide – but of a deliberate strategic shift in how UNHCR plans and delivers, with a sharper focus on protection, life-saving response and support to host countries’ systems.

The Appeal includes a foreword from the High Commissioner, a funding chapter reviewing 2025 and setting out the 2026 budget and resource mobilization strategy, and regional overviews describing UNHCR’s planned activities and approach in each region.

Public sector donors continue to provide the largest share of UNHCR’s voluntary contributions, while private sector support, including 3.2 million individual donors, as well as companies, foundations and philanthropists – many donating through UNHCR's National Partners in 11 countries – remains essential, particularly for unearmarked income.

For more information, please contact:

• Matthew Saltmarsh, [email protected], +41 79 967 99 36
• Carlotta Wolf, [email protected], +41 79 546 67 07