Washington will on Monday pledge $2 billion for United Nations humanitarian aid in 2026, a State Department source confirmed to AFP — far less than it has provided in recent years.
According to UN data, the United States remains the top humanitarian aid donor in the world, but that amount fell significantly in 2025 to $2.7 billion, down from around $11 billion in 2023 and 2024 and from over $14 billion in 2022.
The pledge is due to be announced in Geneva later on Monday.
When UN aid chief Tom Fletcher launched the UN’s annual Global Humanitarian Appeal for 2026 earlier this month, he requested $23 billion to provide assistance to 87 million of the world’s neediest people, with a heavy focus on dire conflicts like those in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and Myanmar.
The amount and number of people covered by the appeal were dramatically reduced over recent years, as the UN strives to adapt to a new reality after President Donald Trump slashed US foreign aid spending.
Fletcher said at the time that the appeal was “based on excruciating life-and-death choices”, adding that he hoped Washington would see the priorities, and the reforms to improve aid efficiency, and would choose to “renew that commitment” to help.
The United Nations has stressed that the smaller appeal does not mean needs have shrunk — to the contrary.
It estimates that some 240 million people — in conflict zones, suffering from epidemics, or victims of natural disasters and climate change — are in need of emergency aid.
In 2025, the UN’s appeal for more than $45 billion was only funded to the $12 billion mark, the lowest in a decade.
That only allowed it to help 98 million people, 25 million fewer than the year before.
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