The Global Humanitarian Access Overview is ACAPS’ twice-yearly assessment of the constraints on humanitarian access across the world – the barriers people affected by crisis face in reaching assistance and the barriers humanitarian organisations face in reaching them.
The July 2026 edition provides a global picture of humanitarian access conditions between December 2025 and May 2026, assessing 66 crisis-affected countries across three dimensions: the barriers people face in reaching assistance, the constraints limiting humanitarian organisations’ ability to operate, and the physical, environmental, and security constraints affecting aid delivery.
KEY FINDINGS
Improvement has become rare. Worsening conditions far outnumber improving ones this edition, with 26 countries deteriorating and only one improving.
Extreme constraints are entrenched. 12 countries face the extreme level, eight of them unchanged at that ceiling and four having moved into it during the period.
Constraints are increasingly policy-driven. Legal and administrative measures – including the deregistration of humanitarian organisations, the prosecution of aid staff, and restrictions on assistance to refugees and migrants – are driving deterioration beyond conflict settings.
The main barriers lie inside countries. Countries are less constrained at the point of entry than by movement restrictions, interference in the implementation of humanitarian activities, and limits on people's access to assistance once inside.
Between December 2025 and May 2026, most monitored crisis settings continued to face severe humanitarian access constraints. In 44 of the 66 countries assessed, people affected by crisis faced high to extreme constraints on humanitarian access, severely compromising their ability to reach aid and the ability of aid to reach them.
SEVERE ACCESS
CONSTRAINTS
Access deteriorated in 26 crisis-affected countries (39%), improved in only one (2%), and remained stable in 39 (59%). Yet stability often masked persistent severity; 15 of the 39 stable countries continued to face very high or extreme constraints.
Overall, the findings point to broad-based deterioration, with limited improvement and a more restricted humanitarian operating environment by the end of the period.
This shift is a strong signal, but three factors shape it. Fewer countries were monitored and better information availability reduced information gaps that had previously suppressed some scores – both of which lift the apparent trend.
Underlying these effects, however, is a genuine deterioration in access conditions across many monitored contexts. The worsening is real, but the numbers should be read as proportions shaped partly by coverage and data, not by deterioration alone.
WHAT IS THE HUMANITARIAN ACCESS SITUATION ACROSS THE GLOBE?
Disclaimer: some countries with active humanitarian crises might score 0 in ACAPS' Humanitarian Access Index in two instances:
1) the crisis emerged after the December 2025 issue of the index - in that case, the score is automatically 0, in the absence of data/historical data; 2) the actual score is 0 because no humanitarian access constraints were reported.
HUMANITARIAN ACCESS SCORES over time
A displacement camp in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, May 2026.
AFRICA
AFRICA
Africa recorded the widest deterioration. Access worsened in 13 of the 31 countries with active humanitarian crises and improved in none, driven by conflict, restrictive policies, displacement, and severe physical and environmental barriers.
The Middle East
The Middle East
The Middle East had the highest concentration of extreme-level contexts. Access in two countries deteriorated while most others were already scoring at the most severe levels, pointing to entrenched rather than easing restrictions.
Asia
Asia
Asia recorded three deteriorations and no improvements. Conflict escalation in Afghanistan and worsening conditions in Southeast Asia – linked to natural hazards and tighter enforcement – drove the decline.
Europe
Europe
Europe had the highest share of worsening contexts. Three of four countries deteriorated; outside Ukraine, the pattern was driven by policy restrictions rather than insecurity.
The Americas
The Americas
The Americas had the highest number of countries with low access constraints. Several countries still deteriorated, with weather-related disruption and administrative barriers shaping access.
Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, Mali
New or intensifying conflict, cross-border and regional escalation cutting off entire areas, tightening administrative restrictions, and armed group control of supply routes drove these four countries to the extreme level.
HOW ARE THE ACCESS LEVELS BEING CALCULATED?
Our methodology groups 9 indicators under 3 pillars: each indicator is given a score from 0–3 and X when there is an information gap. The model then combines the indicators in pillars, where they get a final score on a scale of 0–5.
PILLAR 1: ACCESS OF PEOPLE IN NEED TO HUMANITARIAN AID
indicators under PILLAR 1
1: Denial of existence of humanitarian needs or entitlements to assistance
2: Restriction and obstruction of access to services and assistance
Palestine, South Sudan, Yemen
42% of the crisis-affected countries in the ACAPS Global Humanitarian Access Index scored the maximum on this pillar, which reflects the restriction and obstruction of access to services and assistance – the second most widespread constraint in the index. This shows that border restrictions, documentation requirements, sieges, curfews, and harassment remain widespread across most monitored crises.
People wade through flood waters in a rural neighborhood affected by flooding in Buzi, Mozambique
PILLAR 2: ACCESS OF HUMAnITARIAN RESPONDERS TO PEOPLE IN NEED
indicators under PILLAR 2
3: Impediments to enter the country
4: Restriction of movement within the country
5: Interference into implementation of humanitarian activities
6: Violence against humanitarian personnel, facilities, and assets
Myanmar, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo
12% of the crisis-affected countries in the ACAPS Global Humanitarian Access Index scored the maximum on this pillar, which captures the access of humanitarian organisations to people in need. It is the most restrictive pillar in the index, reflecting the most severe conditions in a small group of crisis contexts, where bureaucratic and administrative impediments, in-country movement restrictions, interference in the implementation of humanitarian activities, and violence against humanitarian personnel and assets combine.
A burned-out car in the now-abandoned village of Al Birka, about 30 km from El Fasher after residents fled escalating violence
PILLAR 3: PHYSICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SECURITY CONSTRAINTS
Indicators UNDER PILLAR 3
7: Insecurity or hostilities affecting humanitarian assistance
8: Presence of landmines, improvised explosive devices, explosive remnants of war and unexploded ordnance
9: Physical constraints in the environment
Afghanistan, Ukraine, Somalia
33% of the crisis-affected countries in the ACAPS Global Humanitarian Access Index scored the maximum on this pillar, which captures physical, environmental, and security constraints. It carries the highest average score of the three pillars, largely because physical and environmental obstacles are near-universal, present in more than nine in ten countries assessed. These include active hostilities, explosive contamination from landmines and other explosive remnants of war, and obstacles related to terrain, climate, and a lack of infrastructure.
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Humanitarian access overview
10 August 2026
Humanitarian access overview: snapshot of conditions in crisis-affected countries
DOCUMENT / PDF / 1 MB
The July 2026 edition provides a global picture of humanitarian access conditions between December 2025 and May 2026, assessing 66 crisis-affected countries across three dimensions: the barriers people face in reaching assistance, the constraints limiting humanitarian organisations’ ability to operate, and the physical, environmental, and security constraints affecting aid delivery.
10 February 2026
Humanitarian access overview: spotlight on fragmented contexts
DOCUMENT / PDF / 1 MB
Between June–November 2025, crisis-affected populations in 36 countries experienced high to extreme humanitarian access constraints, according to the ACAPS humanitarian access analysis framework. Operational barriers, including the requirement for aid organisations to secure multiple sequential approvals, fragmented service coverage across jurisdictions, and increased reliance on remote modalities, further hindered their ability to meet basic needs.
08 May 2025
Ukraine: quarterly humanitarian access update (Q1 2025)
DOCUMENT / PDF / 9 MB
This report compares access challenges across Ukrainian oblasts and raions to inform humanitarian responders and support decision-making. It is part of the ACAPS regular analysis of access constraints, with the latest report published on 6 February 2025.
Attached resources
06 February 2025
Ukraine: Quarterly humanitarian access update (Q4 2024)
DOCUMENT / PDF / 9 MB
This report compares access challenges across Ukrainian oblasts and raions to inform humanitarian responders and support decision-making. It is part of the ACAPS quarterly analysis of access constraints, with the latest report published on 28 October 2024.
Attached resources
18 November 2024
Myanmar: access constraints in Rakhine state
DOCUMENT / PDF / 284 KB
This report highlights the challenges surrounding aid delivery for humanitarian organisations and access to that aid for people in need. It aims to inform humanitarian responders, donors, and decision makers about the access constraints affecting their operations, staff, and the communities they serve.