At a global level there are record numbers of people in need of humanitarian assistance. Record levels of people without enough food to eat. Record levels of people forced to flee their homes. And record numbers of aid workers experiencing major attacks. 

The 20 countries on Watchlist 2022 provide a unique lens for understanding what is going wrong. 

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has produced an annual Emergency Watchlist each year for over a decade. Over this time, the Watchlist has evolved from a purely internal aid for emergency preparedness planning into a public report that warns global leaders, policymakers and concerned citizens not just where crises are deepening but why they are deepening and what we can do about it.

The Watchlist is underpinned by a unique methodology. The IRC’s Crisis Analysis Team consolidates 66 different qualitative and quantitative indicators and reviews them alongside insights from the IRC’s over 30,000 staff and volunteers working in crisis zones around the world. This approach—which is now tried, tested, and shown to work—allows the IRC to identify the 20 countries at greatest risk of experiencing a significant deterioration in their humanitarian situations over the year ahead. Read brief country profiles of the Watchlist 2022 Top 10.

Available documents & links