UNICEF Lebanon Humanitarian Situation Report No. 5 (End of Year), 31 December 2025

Highlights

• 1.12 million Syrian refugees remain in Lebanon, including 120,000 Syrians who crossed into Lebanon in 2024/2025. Since November 2024 the Ministry of Public Health report 1,308 people killed or injured inside Lebanon due to conflict, including at least 13 children killed, and 146 children injured. Nearly 420,000 school-aged children remain out of school.
• In 2025 UNICEF supported more than 600,000 people to access essential health care at Primary Health Care Centres across Lebanon, including delivering health services to more than 204,000 people on the move or who live in informal tented settlements. UNICEF support enabled 154,398 children to access public formal education in 2025, and 33,614 out of school children to access non-formal education. UNICEF supported 4.5 million people with improved access to household water.
• UNICEF mobilized US$152.5 million in new funding against the Humanitarian Action for Children appeal, and was 52 percent funded against the HAC in 2025 including carry forward.

SITUATION OVERVIEW AND HUMANITARIAN NEEDS

Lebanon faces deep socioeconomic, political, and security crises, affecting nearly half the population. The escalation of armed conflict in late 2023 and 2024 worsened conditions, particularly for the most marginalized children and families. Due to the compounded effects of these crises public services, including healthcare, education, and WASH, have deteriorated.

Following the voluntary and spontaneous return of refugees from Lebanon to Syria in 2025, 1.12 million Syrian refugees are estimated to remain in Lebanon. This figure includes an estimated 120,000 Syrians who crossed into Lebanon in 2024 and 2025 fleeing insecurity inside Syria. The drivers of return to Syria are the education of children, improved security inside Syria, and the problems faced inside Lebanon including challenging living conditions, and lack of employment opportunities. Out of an estimated 1.51 million school-aged children located in Lebanon, nearly 420,000 remain out of school, over 60 percent of whom are non-Lebanese.

Lebanon also hosts approximately 203,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom live in 12 camps and 42 gatherings, including approximately 180,000 Palestine Refugees from Lebanon (PRL) and 23,000 Palestine Refugees from Syria (PRS). Palestinian refugees face multiple vulnerabilities including severe financial hardship due to limited access to lawful employment opportunities, and food insecurity with nearly 30 percent facing acute food insecurity. An estimated 93 percent of Palestinian refugees are living below the poverty line.

The 2023/24 conflict resulted in nationwide damage, particularly in southern Lebanon, and marked Lebanon's deadliest period in decades.

Displacement has continued into 2025, with families from southern villages still to be demilitarized remaining displaced, and returnees facing challenges including damaged homes, water and health facilities. Despite the ceasefire, since November 2024 the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) report 1,308 people killed or injured inside Lebanon due to conflict, including at least 13 children killed, and 146 children injured.

In 2025, child protection remained a key concern in Lebanon including child labour, unexploded ordnance from the war, heightened risks of gender-based violence (GBV), violent parenting, emotional and physical abuse, psychosocial distress among children, and family separation.

In 2025 Lebanon faced its most severe drought on record, with rainfall levels falling by more than 50 percent across much of the country. The WASH Sector estimated that over 1.85 million people were living in areas highly vulnerable to drought in 2025, while more than 44 percent of the population relies on expensive and often unsafe water trucking.

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