The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is expecting a 34% drop in funding. Most Western countries have scaled back contributions or redirected national budgets toward defense, debt payments, and domestic aid, in order to cope with the energy crisis:

— The WFP’s largest single donor, the U.S., cut its annual contributions by more than half, dropping its funding allocations from roughly $4.4 billion down to the lowest levels seen in years.

— Germany slashed foreign aid contributions.

— The UK reduced foreign aid, and is redirecting its resources toward military and other priorities.

— Switzerland cut its foreign aid, and scaled back support for various UN agencies, such as UNAIDS and UNESCO.

— The Netherlands reduced UN funding and cut back on specific thematic aid allocations.

— Sweden reduced its overall contributions to certain UN humanitarian and aid operations.

— Belgium slashed its foreign aid budget by roughly 25%.

At this hour, the agency expects to receive only about half of the $13 billion it requires, forcing extreme aid scaling, ration reductions, and caseload cuts across the world’s most severe crisis zones:

— Palestine: The agency has been forced to cut food assistance to 500,000 people in Gaza and 200,000 people in the West Bank. Monthly caseloads in Gaza have dropped from 1.6 million to 1.1 million people; daily hot meals have been reduced by 40%; and remaining food rations have been cut by half. The WFP urgently requires $450 million to sustain what remains of these operations through March 2027.

— Yemen: 4.8 million people are at risk of losing their life-saving food assistance entirely.

— Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): Amid record-high hunger, tracking more than 27 million food-insecure individuals, the WFP had to scale down its primary assistance programs from a goal of 2.3 million people to a mere 600,000 individuals.

— Afghanistan: A UN report by the FAO and WFP, released on Oct. 15, projects that 19.2 million Afghans (38% of total population) will face acute, life-threatening food insecurity during the upcoming winter lean season (spanning November to April). More than 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return home from Iran and Pakistan this year, adding pressure to already-overstretched communities. Border closures and disruptions to shipping, through the Strait of Hormuz and other critical trade routes, are also driving up prices for basic goods. The UN warns that the sweeping donor withdrawals will cause global acute food insecurity to surge by 31%, potentially pushing 13.7 million people from crisis-level hunger directly into emergency and famine-like conditions.