Yemen faces worst food crisis since 2022, aid group warns

Aid cuts, conflict and economic collapse push millions of Yemenis towards severe hunger in 2026.

Yemen, one of the world’s most impoverished nations, is entering a perilous new phase of food shortages with more than half the population – about 18 million people – expected to face worsening hunger in early 2026, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

The warning follows new projections under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification hunger-monitoring system that were released on Monday and show an additional one million people at risk of life-threatening hunger. It also comes as Yemen is experiencing its latest internal conflict with external regional actors involved in fighting in the nation’s south.

The assessment also forecasts pockets of famine affecting more than 40,000 people across four districts within the next two months – the bleakest outlook for the country since 2022.

Years of war and mass displacement have shattered livelihoods and limited access to basic health and nutrition services.

Those pressures now overlap with a nationwide economic collapse that has slashed households’ purchasing power and driven up food prices. At the same time, humanitarian assistance has sharply declined.