Official Statistics

UK humanitarian aid and spend in Syria factsheet 2024 to 2025

Updated 28 October 2025

Overview

This factsheet summarises support delivered to the people of Syria through FCDO bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes in financial year 2024 and has been produced following voluntary application of the Code of Practice for Statistics. Syria faces severe humanitarian challenges, with widespread economic and food insecurity, limited access to healthcare, vulnerability to climate shocks and inadequate water and sanitation. Humanitarian access to Syria and the ability to deliver support to Syria has increased since December 2024 following the fall of the Assad regime.

Background: Key statistics of the crisis as of October 2025

• 23.7 million people living in Syria. Source: OCHA, April 2025
• 16.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria. Source: OCHA, April 2025
• 7.1 million Syrians are internally displaced. Source: UNHCR, September 2025
• 1.4 million Syrians in refugee camps. Source: UNHCR, September 2025
• 4 million Syrians in neighbouring countries. Source: UNHCR, September 2025
• $3.2 billion USD funding target for the UN Appeal on Syria. Source: OCHA, September 2025

What has FCDO done to help in Syria?

The humanitarian crisis in Syria has entered its fifteenth year. Following almost 14 years of conflict, Syria remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with 16.5m people (70% of population) in need of assistance, 90% of the population living under the poverty line, and over 11 million Syrians displaced internally and around the region.

In response to the crisis the UK has provided over £4.6 billion in aid ^{[footnote 1]} to over 30 implementing partners including United Nations agencies, international non-governmental organisations and the Red Cross. This support has reached millions of Syrians in need across Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt.

The UK will provide up to £254.5 million to Syria and the region in 2025. This will provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to Syrians inside Syria and support for countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region. Following the fall of the Assad regime we are increasing our support for Syria’s longer-term recovery, including through education and livelihoods, and are starting to engage with the new Government to support their plans.

How to use this data

FCDO Syria results are collected on a unique beneficiary basis, which means each beneficiary is only counted once per result, regardless of how many times they receive assistance. Figures are rounded down to the nearest thousand.

These results represent a conservative estimate and should be interpreted as an ‘at least’ estimate. To avoid double-counting, only the delivery partner with the largest reach in each subdistrict (geographic administration level 3) is included in the aggregated total (ie the results presented in this publication).

Results must not be summed together; there is overlap between the results. For instance, if someone receives food aid and receives access to safe drinking water, they would be captured in both results.

These statistics are a snapshot of the results achieved; they do not capture the full breadth of UK government support in Syria.

Key humanitarian objectives and strategies in Syria

• reduce human suffering by meeting the needs of the most vulnerable people
• prevent further economic and societal decline by building resilience at individual and community level
• improve the effectiveness of the overall international response to the crisis
• support long term early recovery in Syria
• enable localisation of aid to National Non-Government Organisations (NNGOs)

Localisation

The UK will support local leadership on development, climate, nature and humanitarian action. From April 2024 to March 2025, at least 33% of the budget for Syria was allocated to local NGOs.

Early recovery

Over 55% of the UK’s aid budget for Syria was allocated to early recovery, livelihoods, and providing long term opportunities for Syrians from April 2024 to March 2025.

Headline results from 2024 to 2025 financial year

People reached with humanitarian assistance:

• at least: 2,240,000
• of which women and girls: 1,257,000
• includes: all activities, such as health, education, protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene

People reached with health assistance:

• at least: 711,000
• of which women and girls: 410,000
• includes: only people who have received essential health services, such as medical consultations

People reached with early recovery assistance:

• at least: 485,000
• of which women and girls: 342,000
• includes: only people who have received access to education, protection and livelihoods support

Cumulative results since 2012

From financial years 2011-2012 to 2024-2025, the FCDO response to the has delivered:

• 28.5 million monthly food rations
• 27.6 million medical consultations
• 6.5 million cash grants

Sector results from 2024 to 2025 financial year

In the 2024 to 2025 financial year, FCDO programming has supported at least:

Health and nutrition

• 1,480,000 trauma and non-trauma medical consultations provided to people, ranging from routine check-ups to life-saving surgery
• 711,000 people provided with essential medical aid, including trauma and non-trauma consultations
• 76,000 women and children under 5 reached with specific nutrition services, such as the provision of supplements (ie RUSFs and RUTFs)^{[footnote 2]} and dietary planning for mothers

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)

• 382,000 people provided with sufficient access to safe water, which includes rehabilitation of water infrastructure
• 48,000 people provided with access to life saving WASH facilities, primarily including the emergency provision of water through trucking
• 31,000 people provided with safe solid waste management facilities, activities include expanded waste collection facilities

Protection

• 377,000 people reached with Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) interventions, which includes family planning, dignity kits, and SRH awareness
• 271,000 people reached with Gender Based Violence support, primarily through access to safe spaces for women and girls
• 188,000 people reached with Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS)

Early recovery

• 421,000 people supported through livelihoods activities, including provision of agricultural non-fungible items or training
• 71,000 households benefitting from agricultural development interventions, such as agricultural grants and sustainable practices training
• 34,000 people with improved climate shock resilience. Including activities such as renewable energy access and irrigation rehabilitation

Education

• 147,000 children provided with access to informal education. Including activities such as after school clubs and summer schools
• 101,000 children provided with access to formal education. Activities are aimed at primary age students in full time education
• 32,000 children reached with psychosocial support (PSS) activities. Activities include counselling, safe space access, and structured support

Age, sex, and disability

FCDO Syria programming incorporates Gender, Equality, and Social Inclusion across all implementing partners; partners aim to target at least 50% women and girls. Women and girls account for 56% of people reached.

It is estimated that at least 142,000 PWDs^{[footnote 3]} were reached through FCDO funding for humanitarian assistance, which is approximately 6% of all beneficiaries reached. Disability data is challenging to collect in this context and is likely under-reported. In 2024, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated 17% of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria are PWDs (OCHA, 2025).

Category	Number	%
Boys 0 to 17 years	163,000	7%
Male 18+ years	820,000	37%
Girls 0 to 17 years	627,000	28%
Women 18+ years	630,000	28%

Note: FCDO programming reaches significantly more girls than boys aged 0 to 17 through the Syria Humanitarian Protection Programme, a programme specifically aimed at women and girls.

Pooled fund results from January 2024 to December 2024

The FCDO contributes to a variety of multilateral appeals and pooled funds. Appeals, pooled and trust funds are financial contributions from multiple donors combined into a single fund and aim to improve the coordination of humanitarian and basic human needs assistance. Not all funds currently report against FCDO result indicators and instead report on a calendar year (compared to UK financial year). To calculate the UK share of results, the UK share of total funding in 2024 was applied to the funds results. Pooled funds do not contribute to results on pages 3 and 4 and are addition to these sector specific results.

Aid Fund for Syria (AFS)

The Aid Fund for Syria (formerly the Aid Fund for Northern Syria) was established in 2022 as a contingency in case access for OCHA pooled funds was revoked by the Assad regime. In 2024, the UK share of AFS funding was 58%, and the estimated share of the results is:

• 290,000 people were reached with health assistance
• 1,044,000 people were reached with WASH assistance
• 116,000 people were reached with education support
• 290,000 people were reached with early recovery interventions
• 58,000 people were reached with protection support
• 11,000 people were provided with multi-purpose cash

For full data, please see the AFS Annual Report 2024.

Syria Humanitarian Fund (SHF)

SHF is a country pooled fund co-ordinated by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), it has been primarily focussed on delivering aid to Central Syria. In 2024, the UK share of SHF funding was 32%, and the estimated share of the results is:

• 202,000 people were reached with health assistance
• 98,000 people were reached with WASH assistance
• 5,000 people were reached with education support
• 1,000 people were reached with early recovery interventions
• 16,000 people were reached with protection support
• 9,000 people were provided with multi-purpose cash

For full data, please see the OCHA SHF Annual Report 2024.

Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF)

SCHF is a country pooled fund co-ordinated by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), it has been primarily focussed on delivering aid to Northwest and Northeast Syria. In 2024, the UK share of SHF funding was 23% and the estimated share of the results is:

• 184,000 people were reached with health assistance
• 138,000 people were reached with WASH assistance
• 37,000 people were reached with education support
• 27,000 people were reached with early recovery interventions
• 23,000 people were reached with protection support
• 14,000 people were provided with multi-purpose cash

For full data, please see the OCHA SCHF Annual Report 2024.

Financial overview

Where does our funding in Syria go?

Figure 1: Proportion of UK ODA spend in Syria by sector (April 2024 to March 2025)

Sector	Percentage of spend
Supporting services	18.0
Health	17.6
Protection	15.3
Agriculture and livelihoods	14.6
Education	14.2
WASH	7.1
Multisectoral (Cash)	3.9
Food security	3.0
Non-Food Items / Shelter	3.0
Infrastructure	1.9
Other	1.4

The chart shows the proportion of spend within Syria allocated to humanitarian sectors. The largest sector is Supporting Services at 18.0%, followed by Health at 17.6%. Protection (15.3%), Agriculture and Livelihoods (14.6%), and Education (14.2%) are the third to fifth largest sectors supported. The least supported sector is ‘Other’ and Infrastructure.

Note:

• supporting services includes technical assistance programmes, operating costs, third party monitoring, and coordination costs
• other is funding that cannot be attributed to a sector
• for detail on sectors and definitions, see full methodology note

ODA spend towards the Syria crisis by country

Figure 2: ODA spent on the Syria crisis by FCDO, by country (February 2012 to March 2025)

Country	Total spend (in millions)
Syria	2000
Lebanon	940
Turkey	864
Jordan	758
Iraq	48
Egypt	19
Regional	2

The chart shows cumulative spend towards a country from February 2012 to March 2025. Syria, the leftmost column, has the highest spend at £2 billion. Lebanon (£940 million), Turkey (£864 million), and Jordan (£758 million) all have similar levels of spend. The remaining countries, Iraq, Egypt, and Regional have little spend in comparison.

Note:

• Turkey spend is inclusive of FCDO EU Directorate contributions to Facility for Refugees in Turkey programme
• ODA spend is only that which is attributed by FCDO to the Syria Crisis. For full ODA spend by country, please see the Statistics for International Development Publication and Data Tables
• spend by country is ODA received by a country post and spent on programming within that country
• regional spend includes technical and operating programming. As of 2023 it has been merged into country budgets

Methodology

• results data was sourced from our implementing partners’ management information and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes. As part of a bi-annual results commission, partners are requested to provide data on a set of pre-defined indicators via standardised templates and guidance for consistency
• indicators are created for each programme; these adhere to FCDO’s Programme Operating Framework (PrOF) guidance. Results under these indicators are mapped to standard indicators to form a whole portfolio picture. This list of indicators can be found in the full methodology note

• results are, where possible, disaggregated by age, sex, disability, and beneficiary type. They are further disaggregated by geography (down to Geographic Administration Level 3):

  • children refers to ages 0 to 17
  • people, refers to all beneficiaries
• results are collected on a unique beneficiary basis, which means each beneficiary is only counted once per result, regardless of how many times they receive assistance

• as implementing partners provide anonymised summary data, FCDO Syria aggregates these results to ensure beneficiary reach is calculated appropriately. To ensure that beneficiaries are not double counted, the following calculations are applied:

  • where one partner reports on a result: partners account for double counting in their reporting and the full result can be captured in the aggregate figures in this publication
  • where more than one partner reports on a result: disaggregated data by demography is calculated as the maximum figure reported by any one partner in a subdistrict (Administration Level 3)
  • where a partner has not provided full demographic disaggregation: the maximum of either the disaggregated demographic data or the maximum of the largest that has no disaggregation is used
  • where a partner has not provided full geographic disaggregation: the maximum of either the largest result at Admin 3, 2, or 1 is used
  • example calculations can be found under the full methodology note
• pooled Funds do not necessarily provide results to the above standards. Results under pooled funds do not contribute towards sectoral reach, but AFS does contribute to the overall reach figure
• for further detail, please see the separate methodology note which includes a glossary

References

1. OCHA Humanitarian Response Plan 2025
2. UNHCR Syria governorates IDPs and IDP returnees overview
3. UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response
4. AFS Annual Report 2024
5. OCHA SHF Annual Report 2024
6. OCHA SCHF Annual Report 2024

Additional notes and contact information

For methodological information, please refer to Data Sources and Methodology.

For further information, contact statistics@fcdo.gov.uk.

1. See Chart 2 under ‘Financial Overview’ for the breakdown by recipient country. This figure is only ODA attributable to the Syria crisis, for full ODA spend please refer to the latest publication from the Statistics for International Development. ↩

2. Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) and Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) are fortified food products designed to treat and prevent Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). ↩

3. PWDs: Persons with Disabilities. ↩