Attachments
SUMMARY OF CRISIS AND KEY FINDINGS
Niger is contending with a severe humanitarian crisis due to regional instability in the Tillabéri, Maradi, Diffa, and Tahoua regions. The instability stems from conflicts spilling over from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria, compounded by the country's internal political turmoil following a military coup on 28 July 2023 — the third such coup in the Sahel in under three years.
International sanctions, environmental challenges, deep-seated poverty, and frail social support have further strained the relief efforts. Despite these adversities, there has been a slight decrease in refugee and asylum seeker figures, although new arrivals from Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria.
Concurrently, Niger has seen the internally displaced population escalate dramatically, from 1.9 million in 2017 to 4.3 million individuals, which is 15% of the population in 2024, significantly amplifying the demand for humanitarian aid. Acute food insecurity currently afflicts 3.3 million residents, with an alarming 7.3 million more at risk of deteriorating conditions amid the ongoing turmoil.
The rainy season across most of West Africa is ending, but the effects of the floods across the region are still ongoing for many of those affected. The total number of people affected by flooding in West and Central Africa is now 7.2 million.
In Niger, intense flooding has had a devastating impact which caused tragic loss of life and significant destruction of crops, livelihoods, and infrastructure. As of 11 November 2024, the Ministry of Humanitarian Action and Disaster Management (MAH/GC) reported a total of 1.5 million individuals were affected by flooding (206 489 households), including 396 deaths.
Further eroding the communities’ ability to move forward is the fact that flooding often destroys housing, schools, health centres, and transportation infrastructure needed for the delivery of humanitarian supplies, as well as creating obstacles to populations’ access to basic services. It can also have long-term effects on hygiene, sanitation, and public health, by increasing the likelihood of the spread of waterborne diseases, such as cholera, acute watery diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid.