Syrian Arab Republic: 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview (December 2023)

In 2024, 16.7 million people (8.4 million female, 8.3 million male) are assessed to need humanitarian assistance across Syria, up from 15.3 million in 2023. Of the 16.7 million people in need, 5.5 million are displaced, including over 2 million who live in last resort sites.

After 12 years of hostilities and persistent economic crisis, people in Syria saw their situation worsen when a series of earthquakes hit northern Syria and Türkiye on 6 and 20 February 2023. The earthquakes uprooted hundreds of thousands of families, resulted in almost 5,900 deaths and more than 12,800 people injured in Syria, and severely damaged infrastructures already weakened by the conflict. Many families lost their main breadwinner due to death or injury, at a time when the economic situation was already dire, increasing the vulnerability of millions of people previously unable to meet their basic needs.

The erosion of basic service capacity has continued, with water and sanitation systems, and public health services under immense strain, in a context of barely any development investment. Recurrent disease outbreaks, waterborne diseases, a prolonged drought and water crisis, vaccine-preventable illnesses, and food insecurity are contributing to rising mortality and morbidity, including increased rates of malnutrition and increased humanitarian needs. Rural Damascus, Idleb, Ar-Raqqa and Quneitra Governorates have gone from acceptable to stress Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) levels while Lattakia Governorate reported an emergency-level GAM prevalence of 10 per cent. At least 12.9 million people across Syria need food assistance. By October 2023, the cost of the food basket had doubled compared to January and had quadrupled in two years.

As Syrians grappled with these shocks, economic indicators took a further downturn, driving some population movement in Syria, as families moved in search of livelihood opportunities and better access to basic services. High inflation, currency depreciation, and increases in commodity prices continued to drive humanitarian needs in Syria. This resulted in an increase in poverty and reliance on humanitarian assistance. Since February 2023, the Syrian pound (SYP) has lost about half of its value against the US dollar (US$), averaging around SYP 14,200/US$ in the parallel foreign exchange market in November 2023.

The multifaceted crisis in Syria creates continuous cycles of vulnerability, disproportionately impacting those most in need, including individuals with disabilities. The situation is characterized by an increasing number of people turning to basic services which are not there, making them more vulnerable and putting strain on social cohesion.
Active conflict and military operations, including artillery shelling and airstrikes, particularly in areas of mixed or contested control in the vicinity of frontlines, continued impeding humanitarian access; both humanitarian partners' ability to reach those in need and affected populations’ ability to reach basic services and humanitarian assistance. In October 2023, northern Syria and Deir-ez-Zor Governorate witnessed the most significant escalation of hostilities since 2019, resulting in the displacement of over 120,000 people in north-west Syria. Almost 40 health facilities, 27 schools and 20 water systems were impacted by shelling.

From 1 January to 31 October 2023, OHCHR documented incidents across Syria in which 454 civilians, including 88 women and 115 children, were killed as a result of the conflict.

The full 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) will be published later in January 2024, while the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) requirements will be available in February 2024. A placeholder of funding requirements featured in the Global Humanitarian Overview.