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In our third year of producing The State of Open Humanitarian Data, we can report steady progress in closing data gaps across most humanitarian operations. This momentum is the result of global advocacy and investment paired with field-level data sharing and outreach.
Our understanding of data availability and use comes from managing the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) platform. The data on HDX reflects the reality of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies, from persistent displacement to a lack of food and shelter for vulnerable populations. The data also shows the response to these crises, from who is providing what assistance to funding levels and more. The UN estimates that 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2022, at a cost of US$41 billion.
Although HDX includes data about all countries in the world, our report focuses on priority humanitarian crises. This analysis is based on the HDX Data Grids, which provide a comparable way to assess data availability across locations and categories.
The State of Open Humanitarian Data 2022 contains details on the data available for each location, category and sub-category covered in 27 Data Grids. It includes a country deep-dive for Somalia and showcases the work of the United Nations Population Fund on population statistics. It also has an assessment of the data required for modelling, specifically for developing anticipatory action trigger mechanisms, with examples from Ethiopia, Malawi, Nepal and the Philippines.
We estimate that 69 percent or over two-thirds of relevant, complete crisis data is available across 27 humanitarian operations. If we add the data that is relevant but incomplete, the total is 89 percent. Afghanistan and the Central African Republic have the most complete data at 86 percent; Venezuela has the least complete data at 43 percent.
A priority for 2022 will be improving access to forecast, observational and impact data about hazards and shocks. This will be essential to expanding anticipatory action frameworks to more countries with humanitarian operations. To give momentum to these efforts, we will create a new category in the HDX Data Grids.
Humanitarian crises are dynamic and so is the data needed to understand them. We recognize the valuable contributions of all data-sharing organizations publishing data on HDX. We hope that our analysis will increase awareness of the data available for humanitarian response activities and draw attention to what is missing within a critical subset of data. Visit the Overview of Data Grids page on HDX for the latest information throughout the year.
Please be in touch with questions or comments at centrehumdata@un.org. We look forward to continued collaboration and to closing data gaps.