Norway Aid Group: Sudan, DR Congo Top World’s Most Neglected Crises

OSLO/GENEVA – Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Colombia rank as the world’s most neglected displacement crises, according to a new report released Thursday by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The annual list highlights emergencies that receive the least humanitarian funding, media attention, and political action relative to their scale.

Sudan tops the list for 2025. Since April 2023, the country has been devastated by a brutal power struggle between rival generals, fragmenting into multiple armed factions. The NRC reports that over nine million people have been internally displaced—more than any other country in the world at the moment. A further four million Sudanese have fled to neighboring nations like Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt. Compounding the displacement crisis, nearly 19.5 million people inside Sudan are suffering from acute hunger, with famine already declared in parts of the Darfur region.

“It is incomprehensible that a displacement crisis of similar proportions to Syria and Ukraine at their peak can continue to worsen almost unnoticed,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the NRC. “Countries have become much more inward-looking, more nationalist.”

Speaking to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, Egeland linked the neglect to a global pivot toward rearmament. “Rearmament is now an absolute priority because we have to ensure our own security in Europe. There is Putin threatening us, and so on. But people then forget that there will be pandemics, migratory movements, and enormous loss of human life if we don’t invest in hope on other continents.” He added: “Africa is just across the Mediterranean, where we go on holiday. And if the continent collapses, we will also suffer the consequences.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo appears on the NRC’s list for the tenth consecutive year an unprecedented streak. Eastern DRC remains trapped in a cycle of violence involving over 100 armed groups, while recent outbreaks of Ebola and mpox have further overwhelmed a crumbling health system. According to the NRC, by early 2025 only 27.4 percent of the humanitarian funding required for the DRC has been secured, leaving more than 21 million people in urgent need of aid. “This is a testament to the world’s failure to respond to crises that are not regarded as strategically important for rich countries,” Egeland said. “Millions of people are being abandoned because we have chosen not to act, not because we cannot.”

The NRC’s annual list is based on three criteria: a severe lack of humanitarian funding (measured against UN-coordinated appeals), a striking absence of international media coverage, and a visible lack of political will within the global community to resolve or even address the crisis.

The organization noted that several African countries including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Mali, and Nigeria have appeared on the list six or more times since the rankings began. “This points to a systemic pattern of deliberate neglect,” the NRC said. “These are not one-off failures; they are chronic, forgotten emergencies.”

The 10 most neglected displacement crises for 2025 are:

1. Sudan

2. Democratic Republic of Congo

3. Colombia

4. Yemen

5. Afghanistan

6. Honduras

7. Ecuador

8. Cameroon

9. Nigeria

10. Mozambique

Together, these 10 countries span three continents Africa, Asia, and South America and affect tens of millions of people, most of whom have been displaced for years, if not decades. The NRC urged donor governments to reverse the trend, warning that neglect today inevitably fuels tomorrow’s instability, irregular migration, and global health risks.

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