Yemen has been identified as one of the sites of the "four most severe nutrition crises" in 2024, according to The 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, recently released by a group of intergovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies. The other three were Sudan, Gaza, and Mali.
In these four places, "catastrophic hunger driven by conflict and other factors is hitting record highs, pushing households to the edge of starvation," wrote António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, in a foreword.
The report's profile on Yemen also stated that nearly half (48%) of the country's population faced acute food insecurity during a peak period from late 2024 through early 2025. Nearly 17 million Yemenis struggled to access sufficient food during this time. Multiple factors compounded hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity in the country last year.
According to the report, these included economic circumstances that sharply raised food prices as well as continued conflict between Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized government.
The global report explained that heavy rains in March and August 2024 led to flooding that impacted hundreds of thousands of people, damaged over 240,000 acres of crops, increased water contamination and disease, and led to losses of livestock and livelihoods.
While the situation in Yemen has been especially harsh, it also reflects food insecurity and crises worldwide, all too often amplified by extreme weather.
For Yemen, a tragic trend has continued. The Arabian Peninsula nation has now been named a site of one of the worst food crises in each edition of the report.
According to this latest Global Report on Food Crises, international aid to Yemen was limited in 2024 by "funding reductions and a deteriorating humanitarian operating environment." Sudden suspensions of funding in 2025 have further disrupted aid operations in Yemen and other fragile settings.
Meanwhile, the UN has reported on Yemeni initiatives to improve agricultural resilience, ranging from improving water management to promoting hydroponic farming.
More broadly, Secretary-General Guterres wrote that decision-makers should take note of the recent report: "We must summon the funding, innovations, and global solidarity to build the food-secure and climate-resilient future that every person, everywhere, needs and deserves."