A sharp drop in humanitarian funding has left refugee children increasingly vulnerable to hunger, child labour, and early marriage, according to new research by international charity World Vision.
The report, produced in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), urges governments and donors to act swiftly and decisively to prevent further harm and ensure children’s right to education and safety.
Funding for humanitarian aid fell by 40% in 2025, leaving more than 72% of global needs unmet among forcibly displaced families and host communities.
US President Donald Trump cut his government's aid budget to $2 billion at the start of his second presidential term. In previous years, the US has contributed up to $17 billion to global aid.
Trump acknowledged that the effects had been "devastating", but said: "Hopefully a lot of people are going to start spending a lot of money... The United States always gets requests for money. Nobody else helps."
Over 64% of surveyed households now rely on assistance to meet basic needs, with millions facing acute food insecurity. According to the WFP, 318 million people in 68 countries are in crisis, and more than 41 million are in emergency or worse conditions.
The survey, covering nearly 3,500 households in eight countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, found that 57% of families had at least one member go to bed hungry in the past month. More than one in five (21%) reported irregular school attendance among their children, while 11% experienced child–parent separation. Families facing severe food insecurity are now seven times more likely to be forced into child marriage or child labour.
“If I returned to school, I would be happy and would make friends. Going back would bring back my memories. But since I came here… I have not held a book. I am almost forgetting how to read,” Shufa, 15, from South Sudan told World Vision.
“When [children] drop out of school, the future for them is not very bright, because we know that children who have not gone to school will be looking for ways to survive,” said Khon Khon Majok, Emergency Health Project Manager at World Vision South Sudan. “Some of them will resort to stealing, others will resort to child labour, they'll be going to the markets, going to the community trying to look for jobs that are not equivalent to their age.”
The report also identifies a way forward, highlighting that when households are supported to become more self-reliant, children’s well-being improves dramatically. Households with greater self-reliance saw lower rates of children begging for food, leaving school early, experiencing child marriage, or being separated from their families.
World Vision programmes aimed at increasing household resilience, such as farming training, business support, and small business starter packs, are shown to help families generate income and secure enough food for their children.
Amanda Rives, Senior Director of Humanitarian Policy, Advocacy and Partnerships at World Vision, said: “Imagine being a child forced to run from violence again and again, sleeping hungry for days, not hours, and waking each morning unsure where safety might be found. In this report, children speak with heartbreaking clarity about the realities they are surviving and the futures they still dare to imagine. The question is not whether these dreams are achievable but whether there is political will and the courage to make them real.”
World Vision is calling on governments, donors, UN agencies, NGOs, civil society, and the private sector to respond urgently, and with flexible funding, so that children and their families can move from "survival" to "stability and hope".
“The scale of this crisis needs to be matched with decisive, adequately funded action. Governments and donors must act with urgency and flexible support so children and their families can move from survival to stability and hope,” Rives added.