# Congo has been on the list of the world's most neglected crises every year it has existed > The Norwegian Refugee Council has ranked neglected displacement crises for ten years. DR Congo has appeared on every single list — and its 2026 aid plan now covers a third fewer health zones than last year's. - **Publisher:** VOTVS (Fair coverage for everyone) — https://votvs.com - **Author:** VOTVS - **Published:** 2026-08-18 - **Language:** en - **Topic:** Congo - **Canonical URL:** https://votvs.com/ar/articles/congo-neglected-tenth-year - **Tags:** dr congo, displacement, humanitarian funding - **Facts last verified:** 18 August 2026 --- The Norwegian Refugee Council has published an annual ranking of the world's most neglected displacement crises since 2016. It is an unusual list, because it does not measure suffering. It measures indifference. Four things are scored: how badly underfunded the response is, how little media coverage the crisis gets, how little international political and diplomatic effort is going into solving it, and how many people have been displaced. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been on that list every year it has existed. In the edition published on **4 June 2026**, it placed second, behind Sudan. ## Ten years is not a run of bad luck **Figure (StatRow):** DR Congo in NRC's 2026 assessment — Norwegian Refugee Council, published 4 June 2026, covering the 2025 response year. NRC also published a figure that is easier to feel than a percentage. A decade ago the response had about **$55 for each person identified as in need**. It now has **under $33**. The response has less money per person than it did ten years ago, and more people to cover. ## What the 2026 plan actually promises On **28 January 2026**, OCHA published DR Congo's humanitarian plan for the year. The numbers describe a response that has been deliberately narrowed. **Figure (BarSet):** DR Congo's 2026 humanitarian plan — OCHA, 28 January 2026. 'In need' and 'targeted' are the plan's own categories. The plan asks for **$1.4 billion**. The 2025 plan received **24 per cent** of what it requested. The clearest sign of what prioritisation means in practice is geographic. The 2026 response covers **228 health zones**. In 2025 it covered **332**. Bruno Lemarquis, the humanitarian coordinator for DR Congo, described the position as forcing **"extremely difficult, sometimes impossible, choices."** ## A note on two different numbers Readers comparing sources will find two figures for how many people in DR Congo need help: NRC's *over 21 million*, and OCHA's 2026 plan figure of *14.9 million*. They are not in conflict, and neither is wrong. They come from different documents, describing different years, using different scopes — and the 2026 plan explicitly narrowed the ground it covers, from 332 health zones to 228. We flag it because the honest reading matters. A smaller number in a planning document is not evidence that fewer people are suffering. It can just as easily be evidence that fewer people are being counted. ## The part that has no funding line Lemarquis made a second point that rarely survives into headlines: humanitarian assistance saves lives, but it does not address why the crisis exists. Eastern Congo's displacement is produced by armed conflict, by contested control of mineral-rich territory, and by a political settlement that has never held. None of those appear in an appeal document, because none of them can be bought. Diplomatic attention is one of the four things NRC measures, and it is where Congo has scored worst for a decade. ## Questions people ask ### Why is DR Congo called the world's most neglected crisis? The Norwegian Refugee Council ranks displacement crises each year on four measures: funding shortfall, media attention, international political and diplomatic effort, and scale of displacement. DR Congo has appeared on the top-ten list every year since the ranking began in 2016, and placed second in the list published on 4 June 2026. ### How much humanitarian funding does DR Congo receive? In 2025 the response received 27.4 per cent of what it asked for — the lowest coverage in ten years, according to NRC. Measured per person in need, funding fell from about US$55 a decade ago to under US$33. ### What does the 2026 humanitarian plan for DR Congo cover? OCHA's 2026 plan targets 7.3 million of 14.9 million people identified as in need, asking for US$1.4 billion. It covers 228 health zones, down from 332 in 2025. ### Which crises are on NRC's 2026 neglected list? In order: Sudan, DR Congo, Colombia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Honduras, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mozambique. ## Sources - DR Congo on world's most neglected displacement crises list for tenth consecutive year — Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), 4 June 2026. https://www.nrc.no/news/2026/dr-congo-on-worlds-most-neglected-displacement-crises-list-for-tenth-consecutive-year - Facing a critical funding gap, the humanitarian community in DRC is forced to strictly prioritize its response in 2026 — UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 28 January 2026. https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/facing-critical-funding-gap-humanitarian-community-drc-forced-strictly-prioritize-its-response-2026 - Democratic Republic of the Congo country page — OCHA. https://www.unocha.org/democratic-republic-congo - Democratic Republic of the Congo: Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) 2026 — At a glance — OCHA, 2026. https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/democratic-republic-congo/democratic-republic-congo-humanitarian-needs-and-response-plan-hnrp-2026-glance --- Published by VOTVS. Free to quote with attribution and a link to https://votvs.com/ar/articles/congo-neglected-tenth-year.