UNHCR says funding cuts leave 8.3 million refugees at risk of losing vital assistance

29 September 2026

On 29 September 2026 the UN refugee agency UNHCR reported that 8.3 million refugees and forcibly displaced people are at risk of losing vital assistance because of funding cuts.
Available funding fell from $5.178 billion in 2024 to $3.932 billion in 2025.
By July 2026 the agency had received only 32 per cent of the $8.5 billion it needed for the year.
In Afghanistan cash grants for returnees were cut from $375 per person to $170 per household, and only 175 households received reintegration grants in 2026 against 5,300 in 2024.
In Chad registration delays affect 319,000 refugees, while in Ethiopia safe houses for survivors of gender-based violence fell from 29 to 13.
UNHCR cut its workforce by one third in 2025 and closed offices in 140 locations, and project-specific funding rose from 19 per cent in 2022 to 51 per cent in 2026.
Dominique Hyde, UNHCR's Director of External Relations, said that below a certain threshold the system does not shrink, it fails.