Key Takeaways
The Aid Worker Security Database recorded 907 aid workers killed, injured or kidnapped in 2025, up from 833 the year before.
Of those, 350 were killed, and 186 of those deaths happened in Gaza, the deadliest place for humanitarian staff for a third consecutive year.
The United Nations released the figures on World Humanitarian Day, August 19, and tied part of the rise to the spread of cheap armed drones.
The United Nations humanitarian office released its 2025 count on Wednesday, August 19, World Humanitarian Day, and it is the highest total the Aid Worker Security Database has ever recorded. 907 aid workers were killed, injured or kidnapped last year, up from 833 in 2024. Of those, 350 were killed, 322 survived attacks in which they were wounded, and 235 were abducted.
The number killed actually fell slightly, down from a record 387 the year before. The overall total still went up, because more aid workers are being wounded and taken rather than killed outright. That works out to roughly two and a half humanitarian workers attacked every day of the year. That number is worth sitting with.
Gaza and Sudan Carried the Worst of It
Gaza was by far the deadliest place to do the work, with 186 aid workers killed there in 2025, the third year running it has topped the list, followed by Sudan. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher pointed to the proliferation of cheap and adaptable armed drones as one driver of the risk, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. In March, drone attacks hit Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and killed at least three people including a French aid worker, and convoys in Sudan and Ukraine have been struck repeatedly.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the level of violence appalling and urged states to hold perpetrators accountable. "Serving others has become more dangerous than ever," he said in a statement Wednesday. Flags flew at half-staff in New York and Geneva.
The part that gets less attention is the money. Attacks are climbing while humanitarian funding is being cut, which leaves fewer organizations covering more dangerous ground with thinner security budgets. The European Commission said it would keep its donor commitments and called every aid worker killed a failure by the international community to uphold its most basic obligations. It is the same squeeze visible in the WFP response to Colombia's Chocó earthquake, and the same accountability gap that runs through the Pentagon's own civilian casualty accounting in Yemen. The people who show up when a system fails are now the ones being counted.
People Also Ask
How many aid workers were killed in 2025?
350 aid workers were killed in 2025, down slightly from a record 387 in 2024. Total attacks still hit a record because 322 were wounded and 235 were abducted, bringing the count to 907.
What is the Aid Worker Security Database?
It is an independent platform that compiles major security incidents affecting humanitarian personnel worldwide, including killings, woundings and kidnappings, and it is the source the UN cites for annual figures.
Where is the most dangerous place to be an aid worker?
Gaza, for the third consecutive year, with 186 humanitarian workers killed there in 2025. Sudan ranked second.
Why are attacks on aid workers increasing?
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher pointed to the spread of cheap, adaptable armed drones in conflict zones. Falling humanitarian funding is compounding the risk by thinning security capacity.