Democratic Republic of the Congo

Introduction

Amid conflict, poverty, malnutrition and recurring disease outbreaks, humanitarian needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are among the highest in the world.

The 2026 UN’s humanitarian response plan for the DRC requires €1.4 billion to meet the needs of 14.9 million people across the country.

Facts & figures

The EU continues to provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable, often people displaced by conflict, epidemics or natural hazards.

What are the needs?

People in eastern DRC have faced persistent conflict and violence for decades. Forced to flee their homes time and again, the most vulnerable are forced to rebuild their lives repeatedly and seek for safety in:

• overcrowded family homes
• makeshift camps
• schools or churches

Conflicts and crises

In 2025, intensified conflict in the east had increased the total number of internally displaced people in the DRC to over 7 million people. This number has since dropped to 5.8 million in 2026 due to the rising number IDP returnees, estimated at 1.9 million people. 90% of whom are located in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. More than 1 million Congolese refugees live in neighbouring countries, while the DRC also hosts over 500,000 refugees from the region. By January 2026, the crisis had become deeply entrenched, with increasingly complex conflict dynamics—including the growing use of armed drones and signs of geographic extension beyond the Kivu theatres, raising new risks for civilians and humanitarian operations.

In January 2026, one year after the fall of Goma, structural humanitarian, protection, and economic constraints persist, families are still struggling with prolonged bank closures, limited access to cash, and the shutdown of Goma international airport continue to severely constrain humanitarian operations, supply chains and medical evacuations across eastern DRC. 

Humanitarian access has further deteriorated with protection services, especially for survivors of gender-based violence, are among the most affected, with fear, intimidation and under-reporting significantly limiting coverage at a time when needs are only growing.

Violations of human rights and international humanitarian law are reported every day, such as:

• attacks on schools and health structures forced recruitment of children
• physical violence and abductions
• extortion and looting
• killings and torture
• widespread conflict-related sexual violence.

Conflict, displacement and restricted access to land and markets continue to fuel acute food insecurity. The Burundi–DR Congo border crisis continues to spill over regionally, placing in particular Burundi under significant strain as it hosts a large influx of refugees from South Kivu on top of an already under-funded and under-reported humanitarian situation. 

Poor health services

In addition, the DRC continues to face recurrent epidemics, such as:

• cholera
• measles
• Mpox
• Ebola 

A weak health system coupled with lack of basic infrastructure and social services, including in the health sector, further exacerbates humanitarian needs. 

Violence on the rise

In the west of the country, particularly in Maï-Ndombe province but now also in Kwilu, Kwango, and Kongo Central, intercommunal violence since 2022 has spread into neighbouring provinces, causing population displacement and civilian casualties, showing that humanitarian needs extend beyond the eastern provinces often in the spotlight, and on the outskirts of Kinshasa. 

Finally, the DRC often bears the brunt of recurrent large-scale natural hazards, including devastating floods and volcanic eruptions. These affect and often displace hundreds of thousands of people. 

How are we helping?

In 2026, the EU has allocated €70 million in humanitarian aid to the DRC to address the most pressing humanitarian needs in the country.

The EU was the second largest donor for the humanitarian response in the DRC in 2024 and the first one in 2025. 

Humanitarian projects

Most of the EU-funded humanitarian projects are helping vulnerable people in the east of the country, where persistent conflict is ongoing. The EU works with partners to:

• provide food assistance and nutrition, shelter, protection, emergency healthcare, including care for survivors of sexual violence
• improve water, sanitation and hygiene conditions
• ensure that children caught in humanitarian crises can go to school 

Through its Humanitarian Air Flight, the EU also provides air support to humanitarian organisations, enabling them to deliver aid to people in hard-to-reach areas.

In 2025, the EU has allocated more than €8 million for the EU Humanitarian Aid Flights (EUHAF) in the DRC.

In 2025, to respond to the rising humanitarian needs in eastern DRC, the EU organised a Humanitarian Air Bridge  operation which has transported more than 500 tonnes of essential medical and nutritional supplies by plane to Nairobi and onwards by road from Nairobi to Goma. A new Humanitarian Air Bridge has been launched early 2026 to respond to the latest escalation in fighting.

The EU’s support also allows humanitarian organisations with specific expertise in nutrition to work in areas that have alarming malnutrition levels, saving the lives of thousands of children.