World Humanitarian Data and Trends 2015 report is published!

World Humanitarian Data and Trends2015 presents global and country-level data-and-trend analysis about humanitarian crises and assistance to let users explore data about humanitarian crises, assistance, challenges and opportunities around the world.


World Humanitarian Data and Trends is an annual UN OCHA - Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs publication (research report) that presents (under CC BY-IGO license) global and country-level data and trend analysis. OCHA publishes the datasets on the Humanitarian Data Exchange, a platform devoted to making humanitarian data publicly accessible.

The World Humanitarian Data and Trends 2015 report is just one part of OCHA’s efforts to improve data and analysis on humanitarian situations worldwide and build a humanitarian data community.

There are many gaps in the available information due to the complexity of humanitarian crises. In Dicember 2014 – on the occasion of World Humanitarian Data and Trends 2014 award - OCHA Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Kyung-wha Kang noted there was “no question” of the power of numbers to convey information. Placing data onto maps and information graphics, or showing trend lines, helps everyone to understand the issues better.

The World Humanitarian Data and Trends 2015  edition builds on previous iterations of the report, providing an overview of 2014 as well as selected case studies that can be used for humanitarian advocacy. In particular, the report covers three main areas: humanitarian needs and assistance in 2014, regional perspectives and humanitarian trends, challenges and opportunities.

The section ‘The year in review – 2014’ reports information about humanitarian assistance, humanitarian needs, war and political conflicts, natural disasters, global landscape and issues of increasing concern presented in 2014.

The section ‘Regional perspectives’ showcases region-specific needs, responses and trends identified by OCHA’s regional offices.

The section ‘Trends, challenges and opportunities’ focuses on the cost of humanitarian assistance, on the long-term trends in natural disasters and in conflicts, on volunteer coordination, on innovative tools for data coordination and collection, on social media and humanitarian disasters as well as on perceptions about humanitarian action.

The information of the report uses many visual representations (visual case studies) of humanitarian data and trends transforming numbers into easy-to-digest infographics. There is also some limited narrative text and analysis, which provides basic orientation and helps to guide individual interpretation. The ‘User’s Guide’ contains more detailed methodological information and specific technical notes for each figure.

In general, the report looks at the sharp increase in humanitarian needs and the reasons behind those changes intending to provide a comprehensive picture of the global humanitarian landscape, and to highlight major trends in the nature of humanitarian crises, their drivers, and the actors that participate in prevention, response and recovery.

All the reported data provide policy-makers, researchers and humanitarian practitioners with an evidence base to support (monitoring the response) humanitarian policy decisions and present context for operational decisions.

All the data presented in this report is from a variety of source organizations with the mandate, resources and expertise to collect and compile relevant data, as well as OCHA-managed processes and tools, such as the inter-agency appeal process and the Financial Tracking Service (FTS).

Contributions to this edition of internal and external partners are listed in the section ‘Sources and References’.


Source:

World Humanitarian Data and Trends (online version)
World Humanitarian Data and Trends (pdf)
Interactive companion microsite of the report

See also:

Humanitarian Data Exchange (download data presented in the report)
Global Humanitarian Assistance
The Global Nutrition Report 2015: actions and accountability to advance nutrition and sustainable development