A record 907 aid workers were killed, injured or kidnapped in 2025, according to the Aid Worker Security Database, which compiles major incidents affecting humanitarian workers. The total included 350 deaths, down slightly from 387 in 2024.
Gaza was the deadliest place for humanitarian workers for the third consecutive year, with 186 killed there in 2025. The United Nations said the increased use of armed drones was partly driving the wider danger.
What the database recorded
The United Nations humanitarian office said the number of aid workers facing violent attacks reached a record in 2025. The database counted people who were killed, injured or kidnapped, rather than deaths alone.
Sudan followed Gaza among the places where aid workers faced the greatest danger. Aid convoys in Sudan and Ukraine were repeatedly hit, while drone attacks in March struck Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and killed at least three people, including a French aid worker.
Related coverage: More than 620 drones reported over Moscow region in overnight attack.
Why the UN says the risks are rising
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the spread of cheap, adaptable armed drones in conflicts had increased risks to humanitarian workers. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the level of violence “appalling” and urged states to respect the rules of war and hold perpetrators accountable.
“Serving others has become more dangerous than ever,” Guterres said in a statement. Ramiz Alakbarov, the humanitarian coordinator of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, said humanitarian workers were not targets and that humanitarian assistance must be fully facilitated.
Calls for protection and accountability
Former UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said earlier in 2026 that he was seeking a high-level panel to investigate staff deaths. Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s global humanitarian policy lead, called for greater protections for aid workers and described the violence as an assault on humanitarian action itself.
The attacks are occurring as funding for humanitarian work is increasingly being cut. The European Commission said it would continue its donor obligations and called every aid-worker death both a personal tragedy and a failure to uphold the international community’s basic commitments.
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