What is humanitarian assistance?

Humanitarian assistance is the aid and action designed to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of emergencies.

But different groups of donors account for – and report – humanitarian assistance expenditure in different ways. So when counting and analysing humanitarian assistance, it is important to understand the official and working definitions. More >

How much humanitarian assistance is there?

Total humanitarian assistance – the official humanitarian expenditure of the 23 members of the OECD DAC – reached US$9.2 billion in 2006. See graph >

The DAC members are the only donors obliged to report humanitarian expenditure each year, to strict reporting criteria, along consistent lines. We estimate global humanitarian assistance to be in the region of US$14.2 billion. More >

GHA special report on public support for humanitarian assistance through NGOs > (1MB PDF), Feb 2009 More >

GHD indicators 2008 > (400kb PDF), Feb 2009 More >

Global Humanitarian Assistance 2009 report. Due April 2009. More >

The new-look interactive GHA site. Due April 2009

Visit the humanitarian donor profiles page

Who provides humanitarian assistance?

Humanitarian assistance includes contributions from governments, NGOs and the general public. Response might be at a local or international level. More >

Our analysis focuses mainly on the official contributions from DAC donors.

Which countries provide the most humanitarian assistance? Which are the most generous? Which prioritise humanitarian assistance within their ODA budgets? More >

Where is humanitarian assistance spent?

Africa has received the greatest share of total official humanitarian assistance allocable by region since 2000. In 2006, it received 46%. See graph >

Several countries – Afghanistan, Angola, Ethiopia, Iraq and Sudan – regularly appear on the list of top recipients of DAC humanitarian assistance and are also the subject of frequent UN CAP appeals. See map of expenditure 2005/2006 >

More >

What is humanitarian assistance spent on?

Food receives the largest share of commitments to the UN CAP appeals, accounting for US$12.2 billion (54%) of the total committed since 2000. See graph >

Commitments to health (US$1.4 billion), water and sanitation (US$560 million), education (US$492 million) and shelter plus non-food items (US$428 million) are much smaller. More >

Is humanitarian assistance meeting needs?

In spite of better coverage, more than a quarter of the highest priority needs identified through the UN CAP went unmet in both 2006 and 2007. See graph >

Improving the quality of humanitarian response for people affected by crisis means increasing the size of resources – and getting better value from them. More >

> Development Initiatives 2008: www.devinit.org