Yemen’s already dire hunger crisis is “teetering on the edge of outright catastrophe”, UN agency chiefs said on Monday, as new data analysis from the war-ravaged country indicated potentially record food insecurity.

Today, more than 17.4 million Yemenis are food insecure; an additional 1.6 million “are expected to fall into emergency levels of hunger” in coming months, taking the total of those with emergency needs, to 7.3 million by the end of the year.

Famine to raise five fold

Of extreme concern to humanitarians is the likelihood that the number of people experiencing “catastrophic”– or famine-like - levels of hunger, will increase five fold, from 31,000 now, to 161,000,by 31 December.

“These harrowing figures confirm that we are on a countdown to catastrophe in Yemen and we are almost out of time to avoid it,” said World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley.