Donors Pledge $1.5 Billion to UNHCR for 2026 as Refugee Needs Reach New Highs

Amid unprecedented financial pressure on humanitarian actors, the pledges signal strong, sustained trust in UNHCR’s role.

Donor governments have pledged $1.161 billion to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to support life-saving protection, assistance, and durable solutions for millions of refugees, returnees, and stateless people in 2026. This amount is slightly higher than last year’s record pledge for 2025 operations. With an additional $350 million committed by UNHCR’s National Partners—who mobilize private sector funding—the total announced at the Geneva pledging conference reaches $1.5 billion, covering nearly 18 per cent of UNHCR’s projected needs for next year.

Several governments also confirmed multi-year commitments extending into 2027 and beyond, enabling UNHCR to strengthen long-term planning in a challenging global funding environment. More contributions are expected in the coming months, particularly from governments unable to make early pledges due to budgetary rules.

A Critical Boost Amid a Severe Funding Crisis

Amid unprecedented financial pressure on humanitarian actors, the pledges signal strong, sustained trust in UNHCR’s role. However, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned that 2025’s severe funding cuts—described as “neither necessary nor inevitable”—have already had devastating impacts on vulnerable people.

“Today’s commitments show that the world has not turned its back on people forced to flee,” Grandi said. “Early and flexible funding gives us the lifeline we need to move quickly when new emergencies erupt and to keep delivering solutions in neglected crises.”

Top Government Contributors and Worrying Trends

Major contributors this year include Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway, with additional strong increases from Ireland, Luxembourg and Iceland. The European Union also confirmed significant pre-committed funding for 2026. Austria and Spain were newly welcomed into the group of donor governments pledging support.

Yet a concerning pattern has emerged:

• Uearmarked funding—the most valuable and flexible type—has dropped to 17 per cent, nearly half the share recorded in 2023.

• Earmarked funding, tied to specific countries or activities, continues to rise, limiting UNHCR’s ability to respond where needs are greatest.

Countries committing the largest amounts of unearmarked funding include Norway, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland, which UNHCR describes as crucial partners in emergency response and strategic planning.

The Impact of Flexible Funding in 2025

Despite overwhelming need and limited resources, UNHCR teams continue to operate in frontline emergencies. In the first half of 2025, flexible funding enabled UNHCR to:

• Reach over 8 million people with legal assistance, documentation and child protection

• Provide more than 6 million health consultations

• Expand water and sanitation access to nearly 5.9 million people

• Deliver shelter, cash support, and relief items to millions more

However, steep funding shortfalls forced severe cuts:

• In Afghanistan, protection services for women and girls were reduced by more than 50%

• In South Sudan, 75% of safe spaces for women and girls closed

• In Lebanon, over 83,000 refugees lost shelter assistance

Grandi stressed that cuts are reversing years of progress in education, child protection, healthcare, and prevention of gender-based violence.

Refugee Returns Show Solutions Are Possible

Amid these challenges, there are signs of hope: in the first half of 2025, an estimated 7 million displaced people returned home, including 2 million refugees—the highest mid-year return figure in a decade. While many returns occurred under difficult conditions, they demonstrate that durable solutions are possible when supported by strong partnerships and adequate funding.

“Most refugees long to return home,” Grandi noted. “With strong donor backing, we can help make these returns safer and more sustainable and ensure that host countries are not left to shoulder the responsibility alone.”

UNHCR continues to call for sustained, predictable, and flexible funding to protect millions of people forced to flee and to preserve hard-won humanitarian gains in an increasingly unstable global landscape.