All events · Borders by Force Again

Yemen War and Mass Displacement

2014–ongoing · Middle East & North Africa

Displacement Territory Seized Mass Killing Sexual Violence Ongoing

Displaced

4.5 million

An estimated 4.5 million people remain internally displaced as of the mid-2020s, out of more than 6 million displaced at some point since 2015

Share of the population affected

17%

of the population of Yemen when the war began, 2014

Killed

154,000–377,000

excess mortality incl. disease and starvation

Territory

130,000 km²

Houthi forces control much of northern and western Yemen (roughly a third of the country's land area but the majority of its population), including the capital Sanaa, while the internationally recognized government and allied forces hold the south and east.

As of 2025. IOM and UNHCR have put Yemen's internally displaced at roughly 4.5 million since 2022-23 and the figure has moved little; access constraints in Houthi-controlled areas make it approximate.

Open on the interactive map →

What happened

Houthi forces, drawn from Yemen's Zaidi Shia minority, captured Sanaa in 2014 and forced out the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia. In March 2015, a Saudi- and UAE-led coalition began a military intervention, including a prolonged air campaign and naval blockade, to restore the government, precipitating years of grinding conflict, famine conditions, and a cholera epidemic. Over 4.5 million Yemenis remain internally displaced as of the mid-2020s, out of more than 6 million displaced at some point during the war, with front-line cities such as Hodeidah, Taiz, and Marib absorbing large IDP populations. A UN-brokered truce in 2022 substantially reduced large-scale fighting, but the country remains split between Houthi-controlled northern territories and government/coalition-aligned areas in the south, and a comprehensive political settlement had not been reached as of 2026.

Parties

Houthi (Ansar Allah) forces seized the capital Sanaa in 2014–2015, prompting a Saudi- and UAE-led coalition military intervention on behalf of the internationally recognized Yemeni government; the resulting war has produced one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

Disputed

Responsibility for civilian harm — including coalition airstrikes, the blockade's effect on famine, and Houthi conduct such as landmine use and blocking aid — is disputed among the warring parties, and total displacement and death tolls (including indirect famine- and disease-related deaths) vary substantially between UN agencies and parties to the conflict.

The denominator

UN estimates put Yemen at about 26.5 million in 2014; the last census was in 2004, which counted 19.7 million. The population is now estimated above 34 million.

The figure is a stock of people currently displaced, not a cumulative count; many Yemenis have been displaced repeatedly, and the population has grown by roughly a third since the baseline year.

Where the baseline comes from

Demographics of Yemenopen-edited
UNHCR Yemenofficial

On the death toll

UNDP's 2021 'Assessing the Impact of War in Yemen' estimated 377,000 deaths attributable to the conflict by the end of 2021, of which 154,000 were direct deaths from combat and violence and 223,000 indirect deaths from hunger, disease and the collapse of health services — nearly 60 per cent indirect, and about 259,000 of the total among children under five. The low end of the range is the direct-death figure, close to the event-based tallies compiled by ACLED; the high end is the modelled total including indirect deaths, and the two are not interchangeable. Both figures stop at end-2021 and the war has continued; parties to the conflict dispute the apportionment of responsibility rather than the aggregate.

Documented forms of violence

Mass KillingArbitrary DetentionTortureEnforced DisappearanceSexual Violence

Documented by the UN Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen in its September 2020 report, which attributed arbitrary deprivation of life and murder of civilians, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture and gender-based including sexual violence to all parties to the conflict.

Formal findings

UN Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen (Human Rights Council) (2020) — Third report, 'A Pandemic of Impunity in a Tortured Land': violations amounting to war crimes committed by all parties — the Government of Yemen, the Houthis, the Southern Transitional Council and the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition — including indiscriminate attacks, arbitrary deprivation of life, enforced disappearance, torture, sexual violence and child recruitment; the Group urged UN Security Council referral of the situation to the ICC. The Group's mandate was not renewed by the Human Rights Council in October 2021 after lobbying by Saudi Arabia and its allies — source

Movements mapped

Sanaa area → Marib (IDP influx)1 million
Hodeidah → Taiz500,000
Taiz → Aden400,000

Countries touched, on present-day borders

Yemen, Djibouti

Sources

UNHCR Yemen Protection Brief (December 2024)official
UNHCR: Yemen Crisis ExplainedNGO
IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix: Yemenofficial