Livelihoods and access to essential services are under pressure at the same time for many Sudanese households, according to a nationwide assessment released on Monday by the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), the data arm of the International Organization for Migration. Livelihoods were the most widespread unmet need, affecting 68% of households (DTM, ReliefWeb record, marked originally published 9 November).
The exposure is concentrated in how people earn. Casual or daily labour is the main source of income for 46% of households, according to the full report, making access to work important to the flow of daily earnings. At the same time 98% of households reported higher prices for essential goods, and 68% said they were using stress, crisis or emergency coping strategies to get by.
Health care shows how the problem compounds. About three-quarters of households (74%) said someone had needed care in the previous three months, and 38% of those could not obtain it. The share was higher among displaced households (48%) than among households that had not been displaced (37%) or returnees (31%).
Households that could not get care were asked why. Cost was cited by 59% and unavailable medicine or services by 56%; respondents could give more than one answer. The two figures describe different obstacles. Addressing affordability alone cannot resolve a shortage of treatment, while restoring supplies alone cannot resolve unaffordable care.
Other services show the same strain. Almost three in five households (59%) reported unmet water and sanitation needs, and 30% said getting water was itself a challenge. Education needs affected 42% of households and shelter needs 38%. Nearly a third (31%) had borderline or poor food consumption, a measure of what households actually eat, not a famine classification. These needs draw on household resources already under pressure; the survey does not measure a uniform decline in income.
Insecurity enters the same chain. The report says threats had affected work or farming for 20% of households and access to healthcare for 23%.
Displacement was associated with larger gaps. Unmet needs were higher among displaced households than non-displaced ones in every sector assessed, most sharply in protection (60% against 33%) and livelihoods (83% against 66%).
DTM carried out 23,736 household interviews between 23 July and 17 August in 185 localities across all 18 states, so the findings describe mid-2026, not change since then. Three localities in South Kordofan state were not covered because of security and administrative constraints. DTM cautions that comparisons between displaced, returnee and non-displaced groups "are not necessarily representative at the population-group level in every locality". The survey records reported needs, not their causes, and it cannot say how much of the gap between displaced and other households is due to displacement itself. Because DTM says the data are representative at locality level, agencies can compare areas, not only cite national averages, though breakdowns below that level are indicative. DTM says it will inform the 2027 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, the UN's annual appeal framework, which will shape how aid is prioritised.