At the time of the Global Humanitarian Overview 2021 launch in December 2020, 235 million people needed humanitarian assistance and protection. This number meant that 1 in 33 people worldwide needed humanitarian assistance - a significant increase from 1 in 45 at the launch of the Global Humanitarian Overview 2020, which was already the highest figure in decades. The UN and partner organisations aimed to assist 160 million people most in need across 56 countries and will require a total of $35 billion to do so. These figures have since evolved to the ones presented above.
The GHO 2021 looks more holistically at the effects of COVID-19. Amid ongoing violent conflict, rising hunger and the effects of climate change, the pandemic will continue to have an impact in 2021. As the health and non-health effects of COVID-19 merge with other shocks, humanitarian programming is also adjusting to treat it in a more integrated manner.