Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, Bangladesh

Starting April 1, 2026, the World Food Programme (WFP) will end equal monthly Rohingya food assistance in Bangladesh. The change affects more than 1.2 million people in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char. From that date, how much a family receives will depend entirely on how severe their food situation is.

For years, every registered Rohingya family received the same monthly support. That system ends in days. WFP says the change reflects findings from a survey conducted last year. The survey measured living conditions and food insecurity across the camps. The results showed clear differences between families. Not every family suffers equally. But almost every family suffers.

Under the new system, families are divided into three categories. The first covers those facing the most severe food insecurity. Each person in this group receives $12 per month in Cox’s Bazar and $13 per month in Bhasan Char. These numbers are small. For families surviving on nothing, however, every dollar matters.

The second category covers households with high levels of food insecurity. Their situation is difficult but slightly less critical. Each person receives $10 per month in Cox’s Bazar and $11 in Bhasan Char. The difference from the first category is two dollars. Inside a refugee camp, two dollars can be a meal for a child.

The third category includes families considered relatively stable. These families show more capacity to manage daily hardship. They receive $7 per month per person in Cox’s Bazar and $8 in Bhasan Char. However, stability inside a refugee camp is fragile. What is stable today can collapse tomorrow.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides a broader picture. Over the past eight years, the Rohingya population in Bangladesh has grown by approximately 32 percent. In 2018, around 900,000 Rohingya were registered in the country. That number has now reached nearly 1.2 million. Of this population, approximately 78 percent are women and children.

That means nearly one million women and children depend on WFP food assistance to survive. They did not choose this life. They fled violence, persecution, and the destruction of everything they knew. They arrived with nothing. Many have waited years for a path home. That path has not come.

Children make up the majority of this population. Many of them have never known life outside these camps. They were born into displacement. They have grown up under conditions no child should face. The food that sustains them may now be reduced to a category number on a document.

The new system raises important questions. How were families assessed and placed into categories? Were surveys conducted fairly across all parts of the camps? Were families with disabilities or language barriers reached equally? Aid organizations on the ground have not yet publicly challenged the process. Concerns remain, however, about whether the most invisible families will receive the support they truly need.

WFP’s decision also reflects a broader humanitarian funding crisis. Global aid budgets are under pressure worldwide. Moreover, more people in more countries need emergency support than ever before. Therefore, organizations must target resources more carefully. However, targeting also creates gaps. Families on the edge of one category may fall deeper into poverty as support is reduced.

Bangladesh hosts the world’s largest concentration of stateless refugees. The camps of Cox’s Bazar are among the most densely populated places on earth. Bhasan Char, a river island built to absorb overflow population, carries its own challenges of access and isolation. The dollar difference between the two locations acknowledges these realities.

April 1 is days away. Families are already hearing about the change. Some do not fully understand what it means for them. Some understand far too well. A mother calculating how to feed her children now faces harder numbers. A child who received support at one level may receive less starting next week.

The world made commitments to these refugees. Some of those commitments are being quietly scaled back. WFP is working with the resources it has. However, Rohingya food assistance was never enough. It was never enough. And now, for many of the most vulnerable, there will be even less.