INFORM SEVERITY INDEX

The INFORM Severity Index is an improved way to analyse the severity of humanitarian crises globally. It is a sensitive, regularly updated and easily interpreted model for measuring crisis severity that aims to assist decision-makers and contribute to improved effectiveness and coordination in humanitarian action. Existing methods of measuring crisis severity at global level are not widely or consistently adopted and face a number of technical challenges. The primary advantage of the INFORM Severity Index is that it allows measurement of severity against an objective, common scale, which can be applied to all crises. Specifically, the INFORM Severity Index is a composite indicator that summarises a wide range of already existing, quantitative information about crisis severity and presents it in a format that can be used more easily in decision-making. The INFORM Severity Index is updated every month and it can be used to understand changes in crisis severity over time.