Even before fighting broke out in early 2015, Yemen was one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. With an average life expectancy below 64, the nation is ranked 178th out of 188 for human development. 

Nearly four years of conflict have left thousands of civilians dead and 3 million internally displaced. Its impact on the country’s infrastructure has been devastating, with major overland routes and airports severely damaged.

Despite ongoing humanitarian assistance, 15.9 million people wake up hungry every day. It is estimated that, in the absence of food assistance, this number would go up to 20 million. 

Lack of immediate and unhindered access to people who urgently need food assistance – compounded by a shortage of funding – means that famine is a possibility for millions of people, mostly women and children who are already hungry in this war-torn country.

Nearly 3 million children and pregnant or nursing women are acutely malnourished, including 400,000 children under 5 suffering from severe acute malnutrition. This represents a 57 percent increase since late 2015 and threatens the lives and life-long prospects of those affected.

Access constraints continue to pose a serious challenge to WFP in several areas especially where conflict is intense. Despite access and security challenges, WFP and its partners manage to deliver assistance to the vast majority of vulnerable people in the country.

WFP is providing food assistance for those most urgently in need of support in what has emerged as one of the world’s worst hunger crises. In 2019, WFP aims to provide 12 million people with food and nutrition assistance with 100% rations across Yemen.

WFP’s average monthly requirements in 2019 are set to increase to around US$176 million a month as we scale up our operations in Yemen. WFP is facing a significant funding shortfall. We urgently need US$894 million to ensure we can continue to support all vulnerable Yemeni for the next six months.

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30.5 million
population
20 million
people face hunger in the absence of food assistance
14.4 million
people need immediate assistance to sustain or save their lives
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What the World Food Programme is doing in Yemen

  • In-kind food assistance

    In 2019, WFP is scaling up to provide 12 million people with monthly food assistance through direct food distributions or vouchers that people can use at retailers in areas where the markets are functioning. Each family of six gets a monthly ration of wheat flour, pulses, vegetable oil, sugar and salt.

  • Cash assistance

    WFP plans to gradually increase its cash assistance to 1 million people in 2019. To support this programme WFP is registering beneficiaries on a new biometric platform. Through this system, people will receive cash transfers equivalent to US$12 per person per month, which will inject much-needed liquidity into the economy.

  • Nutrition assistance

    In response to high acute, moderate and severe malnutrition rates among children, WFP is providing nutritional support to 1.5 million pregnant and nursing women and children under 5 and will gradually scale up to reach nearly 3 million by the end of 2019.

  • Assistance to refugees

    WFP is currently providing food assistance to 8,500 refugees from the Horn of Africa in Kharaz camp in Lahj governorate.

  • School feeding

    WFP is targeting 600,000 students across Yemen for the 2018-2019 school year, with plans to expand to 900,000 students upon the start of the new school year in September 2019.

  • Logistics

    The WFP-managed UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) continues to transport humanitarian aid workers between Sana’a, Djibouti and Amman. In addition, the Logistics Cluster facilitates a weekly sea transport shuttle for humanitarian workers between Aden and Djibouti.

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Partners and donors

Achieving Zero Hunger is the work of many. Our work in Yemen is made possible by the support and collaboration of our partners and donors, including:
  • Australia
    Austria
    Belgium
    Bulgaria
    Canada
  • China
    Czech Republic
    Estonia
    European Union
    Finland
  • France
    Germany
    Iceland
    Italy
    Japan
  • Luxembourg
    Netherlands
    Norway
    Poland
    Qatar
  • Republic of Korea
    KSA
    Russia
    Slovenia
    Sweden
  • Switzerland
    UN CERF
    United Arab Emirates
    United Kingdom
    UN other funds and agencies
  • USA
    Private donors

Find out more about the state of food security in Yemen

Visit the food security analysis page

Operations in Yemen

View all operations

Contacts

Sana'a

Diplomatic Area, Nowakshot Street, House No. 22 P.O. Box 7181 Sana'a - Republic of Yemen

Email

WFP.Sanaa@wfp.org

Phone: +967 1 214 100

Fax: +967 1 205 515

For media inquiries

WFP.Sanaa@wfp.org