Ethiopia

Ethiopia has made important development gains over the past two decades, reducing poverty and expanding investments in basic social services. However, food insecurity and malnutrition are still a major concern across the country. 

Multiple and often overlapping crises have severely weakened the ability of communities to cope with shocks, pushing millions of people into severe need and destitution. Recurrent conflict, droughts, diseases and inflation continue to drive humanitarian needs upwards, particularly in regions where productive assets and livelihoods have been eroded already because of protracted shocks. 

The overlap of high malnutrition rates, severe water scarcity coupled with disease outbreaks (malaria, measles, and cholera), and livestock emergencies have exacerbated food insecurity in the country, leaving millions of people to depend on humanitarian assistance for survival.

An estimated 10.2 million people require food support in 2024. This includes over 3 million internally displaced people who have had to leave their homes due to the 2020-2022 conflict in the north, severe drought in the south and southeast, and increased seismic activities and earthquakes along the Ethiopian Rift Valley.

Despite these challenges, the Government of Ethiopia’s five-year Growth and Transformation Plan aims to move the country to middle-income status by 2025, by sustaining rapid growth and speeding up structural transformation.

The World Food Programme plays a critical role in providing lifesaving food assistance to vulnerable people in drought and conflict-affected areas, and works with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.