As humanitarian leaders meet in Geneva for talks aimed at improving emergency aid, a new analysis warns that the system itself is “overwhelmed” and pushed to its limits.

The Global Humanitarian Assistance report, released this week by the UK-based analysts Development Initiatives, is an annual examination of international emergency aid funding. This year’s analysis paints a stark portrait of a system in crisis.

Donor funds rise each year, but they don’t keep pace with costs. The few tools the aid system has to make the money go further or to shrink risks – reforms to make aid more efficient and more locally led, or a focus on prevention, for example – haven’t evolved quickly enough to account for skyrocketing humanitarian needs.

The warnings come as humanitarian leaders converge in Geneva for a week of high-level meetings meant to thrash out policies to improve aid and help countries transition out of crisis.

The annual “humanitarian affairs segment” – staged by the UN’s Economic and Social Affairs Council – brings together aid leaders and political policymakers. Food and famine, the climate crisis, and impacts on women and girls are among the core themes this year.

“The humanitarian system remains under huge amounts of strain,” Ramesh Rajasingham, director for coordination at the UN’s humanitarian aid coordination arm, OCHA, told the council on Wednesday. 

Here are a few takeaways from the latest analysis of humanitarian financing trends:

The funding gulf is wider than ever

Humanitarian funding continues to rise year on year, at least on the surface. But it’s not enough to keep up with emergency needs supercharged by climate change, conflicts, and economic turbulence.

Humanitarian funding from public and private sources reached a record $47 billion last year, according to the report. But humanitarian needs also spiralled, leaving a $20 billion shortfall for UN-backed humanitarian appeals – also a record.

Needs have grown on such a scale that the gap between what aid costs and what’s available is five times more than it was a decade ago, the report’s authors said.

Longer crises are the norm

Crises are lasting longer and becoming harder to solve.

Some 83% of people in need live in countries that have had UN-backed emergency response appeals for at least five straight years – and the figure is rising.

The causes of crises are also overlapping. A growing proportion of people who need aid – now up to about three quarters – live in countries facing at least two of the key causes of crises: conflict, climate, or economic fragility.