CONTEXT
- Populations across Niger face high levels of humanitarian need due to the compounded effects of protracted conflict and climatic shocks, such as drought and flooding. As a result, more than 3.4 million people across Niger are expected to face Crisis—IPC 3—or worse levels of acute food insecurity during the June-to-August lean season, when food is most scarce, according to March Cadre Harmonisé (CH) projections.1 Food insecurity is particularly prevalent in areas affected by organized armed group (OAG) activity where violence and resultant displacement restrict agricultural production and access to livelihoods and markets.
- OAG violence in the Lake Chad Basin—comprising portions of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria—since 2013 has led to population displacement and disrupted access to livelihoods and markets in Niger’s Diffa Region. Meanwhile, OAG violence and intercommunal conflict in and around Maradi Region and eastern Diffa continue to heighten food, health, nutrition, and protection needs. Additionally, insecurity since 2018 in the Liptako-Gourma Region—also referred to as the tri-border area, which encompasses the contiguous areas of northern Burkina Faso, central and southern Mali, and southwestern Niger—continues to worsen humanitarian conditions and reduce access to social services, particularly in Niger’s Tahoua and Tillabéri regions, the UN reports.
- More than 407,400 people remained internally displaced in Niger as of late May 2024, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The country also hosted nearly 411,300 refugees and asylumseekers, primarily from neighboring Mali and Nigeria, as of May. Up to 136,900 of these refugees and asylumseekers and more than 155,600 internally displaced persons (IDPs) resided in Diffa alone, UNHCR reports. Insecurity continues to generate displacement and limit access to basic services in Tahoua and Tillabéri, where more than 230,600 IDPs resided as of April.
- An estimated 4.5 million people—nearly 20 percent of the country’s population—require humanitarian assistance in Niger in 2024, primarily due to food insecurity, protracted conflict, and climatic shocks, the UN reports.