The International Organization for Migration’s Annual Report 2025 shows that Africa remained at the center of the agency’s humanitarian response, with major operations in Sudan, expanded health services, climate resilience initiatives and support for safer migration pathways amid record global displacement.
According to IOM’s Annual Report 2025, Africa remained a major focus of humanitarian operations, with millions of people supported through emergency assistance, health services, displacement response and migration programs.
The humanitarian crises unfolding across Africa remained a defining feature of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) work in 2025, according to the agency’s Annual Report released on June 25. As conflicts, climate shocks and economic pressures continued to drive displacement across the continent, IOM scaled up emergency assistance, health services and long-term recovery programs while supporting governments to strengthen migration governance.
Globally, the United Nations migration agency reached 17.8 million people across 170 countries and territories during the year. The report comes at a time when forced displacement has reached unprecedented levels, with 82.2 million people internally displaced worldwide by the end of 2025 and more than 7,900 migrants losing their lives along migration routes.
Sudan at the center of humanitarian operations
Africa’s largest displacement emergency remained a major operational priority for IOM. In Sudan, where the ongoing conflict has forced millions from their homes, the agency became the first United Nations organization to resume operations in Khartoum after intense fighting. Throughout the year, it provided humanitarian, resilience and recovery assistance to more than 1.1 million people, delivering emergency support while helping communities begin rebuilding their lives.
The intervention reflects IOM’s broader strategy of combining immediate humanitarian relief with longer-term recovery efforts in countries facing protracted crises.
Health and resilience remain priorities
Health services represent another significant area of intervention across the continent and other crisis-affected regions. During 2025, IOM delivered more than 4.1 million health consultations in emergency settings worldwide, while mental health and psychosocial support reached 1.5 million people in 99 countries.
The organization also expanded access to water, sanitation and hygiene services for 5.1 million people and provided protection assistance to more than 1.5 million vulnerable individuals. In East Africa, artificial intelligence-supported health screening initiatives improved access to tuberculosis diagnostics, illustrating the agency’s growing use of digital technologies to strengthen public health responses.
Climate-related displacement also remained high on the agenda. As extreme weather events intensified, IOM strengthened resilience for nearly one million people exposed to disaster displacement across 34 countries and worked with governments to integrate human mobility into disaster preparedness and response planning.
Expanding safe migration pathways
Beyond emergency response, IOM continued supporting African governments in improving migration management and creating safer mobility opportunities. In 2025, the agency assisted more than 147 governments worldwide in strengthening migration governance and helped nearly 625,000 migrants access labor and study opportunities through skills mobility partnerships.
The report also highlights the role of data in responding to displacement. IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix operated in 76 countries, assessing 166.3 million people and informing 95 percent of humanitarian needs and response plans developed during the year.
Despite increasing humanitarian demands and funding constraints, IOM maintained a global operational portfolio of USD 2.95 billion supported by more than 15,800 staff. According to Director General Amy Pope, the results demonstrate both the scale of today’s displacement challenges and the importance of coordinated international action to support people on the move, particularly in regions such as Africa where conflict, climate change and economic instability continue to fuel humanitarian needs.
