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Yemen's crisis in numbers

Many civilians in Yemen have fled the cities for their home villages amid a Saudi-led bombing campaign and clashes on the ground Almigdad Mojalli/IRIN
Many civilians in Yemen have fled the cities for their home villages amid a Saudi-led bombing campaign and clashes on the ground
The situation in Yemen may have drifted from the headlines, but the scale of the humanitarian disaster there has been growing by the day.

Five weeks after a Saudi Arabian-led coalition started bombing the Arab world’s poorest country in a bid to force pro-Iranian Houthi rebels from power, there is little sign that victory is imminent for either side.

With the country running out of fuel and other basic goods, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called on Thursday for crippling naval sanctions to be lifted and humanitarian aid be allowed in.

The capital Sana’a is being heavily bombed every night, but there is little sign of the Houthis being forced to abandon it. The Houthis launched retaliatory strikes on Thursday night inside Saudia Arabia.

In the port city of Aden, where fighting has been at its worst, civilians are trapped in their homes, too scared to leave due to snipers as pro and anti Houthi forces battle for control.

These numbers help put the conflict and the plight of the Yemeni civilians in some kind of perspective:


37 - Days since the Saudi-led coalition began bombing


1,244 – People killed since fighting began. Another 5,044 have been injured. The actual toll is likely to be far higher as this figure only includes deaths reported at hospitals.


334,000 People displaced since the bombing campaign began. This is up from 150,000 just two weeks ago. A further 300,000 people were already internally displaced before the current crisis.


763,000 – People the World Food Programme (WFP) has been able to deliver food to in recent weeks, out of at least 10 million in need. WFP has more stocks but is running out of fuel to deliver them.


90 Percentage of Yemen’s wheat and other crops that is imported.


0 – Airports still operating fully. The runway at the airport in the capital Sana’a was bombed this week.  Vital aid deliveries were among the flights cancelled.


2-3 – Weeks before Yemen’s telecoms network shuts down due to lack of fuel, according to a senior humanitarian.


32,908 Consultations given by doctors in the past week, compared with 70,000 before the war. Children have been dying of curable diseases including tonsillitis as they cannot get treatment.


17 – Percentage of a $747 million appeal for humanitarian funds that has been pledged. A separate flash appeal for $274 million, which was launched after the Saudi-led bombing campaign began, has been pledged in full - by Saudi Arabia.


10 – Percentage of deaths in the country caused by diarrhoea in the past week, up from around seven percent at the beginning of the conflict. The disease is caused largely by unclean water.

Data from the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Médecins sans Frontières.

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