IPC warns half of Yemenis in south face food insecurity amid aid cuts

A new survey has found that close to half of Yemen's population in areas controlled by the UN-recognised government faces acute food insecurity in a humanitarian situation described as "rapidly worsening".

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report published on Tuesday said that 4.95 million people would face food insecurity between May and August 2025.

Of the 10.25 million living in territory held by the government, 24 percent were to face crisis levels of food insecurity, with an additional 15 percent, 1.5 million people, at emergency levels of food insecurity.

The IPC scale of food insecurity ranges from phase one, designated minimal food insecurity, through to phase five, designated as catastrophic. Crisis level of food insecurity is designated phase three, while the emergency level is phase four.

Yemen has been embroiled in civil war since 2014 after the Houthis stormed the capital, Sanaa. In 2015, after the Houthis launched an advance on Aden in the country's south, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states launched an extensive intervention.

Although the war has been largely frozen since 2022, when a truce came into effect between the warring parties, fighting has broken out within government-held territory, which the IPC says is a driver of food insecurity.

However, the IPC also highlights the economic decline in the country since 2022 as being a major driver of food insecurity, with decreased household income and price rises, including a projected 26 percent increase in the minimum food basket, exacerbating the situation.

Additionally, poor rainfall earlier in April is set to slash harvests in the territory amid an increased risk of flash floods and crop and livestock disease.

The ongoing conditions in Yemen prompted the IPC to warn that the conditions could further deteriorate into the latter half of the year, estimating that between September 2025 and February 2026, some 53 percent of the population, 5.38 million people, could become acutely food insecure.

"To avert a rapid deterioration into the highest phases of acute food insecurity, humanitarian food and livelihood assistance must be scaled up immediately," the IPC said.

"This entails reversing assistance termination orders, but also securing additional funding to sustain critical life-saving assistance."

The IPC projects, however, that humanitarian assistance is expected to drop off by July, with none entering the territory. This follows a steep decline this year, with food assistance reaching 2.8 million people in May, down from 3.6 million earlier in the year.

"The reduction in emergency food aid and livelihood support following donor funding cuts put an end to a vital safety net that had been preventing alarming levels of acute food insecurity, particularly for vulnerable segments of the population."

The warning comes amid huge international cuts to foreign aid budgets, including in the US, where USAID was gutted by the Trump administration, and the UK, which slashed spending in half, redirecting the money to defence.

On Monday, the UN said that deep cuts will be made in its aid spending for 2025, with the office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) seeking $29 billion for 2025, down from the originally sought $44 billion.

The agency added that it would have to slash 3,500 jobs and cut 30 percent of workforce costs.