Post by International Rescue Committee

Six months ago, our 2026 Emergency Watchlist Report identified the 20 countries at greatest risk of worsening humanitarian crises this year. At the time, 117 million people were forcibly displaced, nearly 40 million faced catastrophic hunger requiring urgent action to save their lives, and more conflicts underway than at any point since the Second World War. Since then, those crises have accelerated. The Iran war is the clearest example of how modern crises now cascade rapidly across economies, supply chains, and aid operations far beyond the immediate conflict zone — and of the widening gap between the cost of conflict and the resources available to respond to it. The first two months of U.S. strikes on Iran are estimated to have cost $25 billion: five times the cost of treating every child suffering from acute malnutrition worldwide. The Ebola outbreak now spreading through eastern DRC is another testament to the New World Disorder —  a viral infection aggravated by the toxic mix of conflict, displacement, and the devastating impact of aid cuts that have collapsed global health spending to a 15-year low. In the Midyear Watchlist Update, the IRC identifies five interconnected shocks driving global disorder— a world with more crises and fewer means to contain them. Explore the full report ⬇️