OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data

What OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data does

The OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data is a unit of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), established in December 2017 in The Hague, Netherlands, with a current staff of approximately 14. It operates the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX), an open platform hosting nearly 20,000 datasets shared by over 200 partner organizations and used by humanitarian actors, governments, researchers, and local organizations across 233 countries and territories. The Centre's portfolio includes HDX Data Grids (tracking data availability across 22 humanitarian operations), the Humanitarian API (HAPI) launched June 2024, the Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) data standard, a Predictive Analytics workstream supporting anticipatory action frameworks, the Data Fellows Programme for capacity building, and the annual State of Open Humanitarian Data report.

The technical architecture centers on HDX as the primary distribution platform, with HAPI consolidating access to multiple partner APIs including the IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix API and OCHA HPC Tools API. Approximately 80% of HDX datasets are updated through automated API processes as of end-2024, with 87% of all datasets shared programmatically via APIs in 2025. The platform supports predictive analytics models for anticipatory action, including trigger mechanisms that combine seasonal rainfall forecasts with historical flood extents and population distributions. AI and satellite-based analytics are integrated through partners such as WorldPop (population mapping with Meta and ESRI), UC Santa Barbara Climate Hazards Center (CHIRPS rainfall), the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (ASAP agricultural anomalies), and JANUS Atmospheric and Environmental Research (FloodScan).

The Centre operates as a public good with no commercial revenue generation. It is funded through UN member state contributions and donor support (notably the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and provides all services, data, and resources free of charge to humanitarian actors worldwide. Content is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Its primary users are humanitarian organizations and UN agencies requiring crisis data for response coordination, governments and national authorities working on anticipatory action and disaster preparedness, researchers and journalists, and local organizations adapting data for community-level decision-making (e.g., Sauti East Africa translating market and food security data into SMS for women traders).

Name

OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data

Legal name

OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data

Website

https://centre.humdata.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data, a UN entity founded in 2017 in The Hague, operates the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX), an open platform hosting 20,000+ datasets from 200+ organizations for humanitarian, government, and research users across 233 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Humanitarian Data Exchange Platform

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230)

SIC

Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Humanitarian Coordination, Information Management & Needs Assessment (BPADADAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Humanitarian Coordination, Information Management & Needs Assessment (BPAGAAAL), Refugee, IDP & Migration Humanitarian Assistance (BPAGAAAH), Health Information Exchange & Public Health Data Integration (HLAJAJAD)

Keywords

• Humanitarian data exchange
• Open data platform
• Humanitarian response data
• Data standardization
• Anticipatory action analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

The Hague

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Good / No Revenue Generation: The Centre for Humanitarian Data operates as a unit of OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) and is funded through UN member state contributions. All services, data, and resources are provided free of charge to humanitarian actors worldwide.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data operates the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX), the largest open platform for finding and sharing humanitarian data across crises and organizations, hosting nearly 20,000 datasets from over 200 partners. It provides standardized data exchange via the Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) standard, unified API access through the Humanitarian API (HAPI), and predictive analytics tools supporting anticipatory action frameworks. All services, data, and resources are provided free of charge to humanitarian actors worldwide under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Product overview

The OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data operates the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) as its core platform, an open data repository for humanitarian crises hosting nearly 20,000 datasets. The platform is supported by the Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) data standard for interoperability. Key products include the HDX Data Grids feature for tracking data availability, the Humanitarian API (HAPI) launched in 2024 for unified data access, climate data services, and the Catalogue of Predictive Models. The Centre also runs a Predictive Analytics workstream supporting anticipatory action frameworks with trigger mechanisms, a Data Fellows Programme for building capacity, and publishes annual reports on the State of Open Humanitarian Data. Climate data coverage includes hazards, impact, and forecast sub-categories essential for disaster preparedness.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) Open platform for finding and sharing humanitarian data across crises and organizations. Hosts nearly 20,000 datasets shared by over 200 partners, accessed by 5.8 million unique users in 2025, with 3.4 million downloads. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
• Humanitarian API (HAPI) Unified API that consolidates and standardizes critical data on conflict events, food security, humanitarian needs, internal displacement, and geospatial data from multiple partner APIs including IOM's DTM API and OCHA's HPC Tools API.
• HDX Data Grids Feature that prioritizes core crisis data into categories (affected people, coordination, food security, geography/infrastructure, health/education, population) and sub-categories including climate hazards, impact, and forecasts. Tracks 22 humanitarian operations with 411 unique datasets.
• Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) Data standard providing standardized tags to improve humanitarian data interoperability, discoverability, and machine readability across organizations and datasets.
• Catalogue of Predictive Models Overview of predictive models developed in the humanitarian sector, supporting the peer review framework for assessing model technical rigor, operational readiness, and ethical concerns.
• Anticipatory Action Framework Support Predictive analytics workstream developing trigger mechanisms that translate hazard characteristics and impact data into technical specifications for anticipatory action frameworks, enabling pre-arranged funding release before disasters.
• Predictive Analytics Peer Review Peer review framework for assessing predictive analytics models in humanitarian response, evaluating technical rigor, operational readiness, and ethical concerns before operational deployment.
• Data Fellows Programme Fellowship program developed in partnership with Education Above All Foundation that places data scientists into humanitarian organizations to build data capacity and address humanitarian data challenges, with focus on education in emergencies.
• HDX Climate Data Services Climate data integration including hazards (droughts, floods, storms), impact data, and forecasts essential for anticipatory action analysis and disaster preparedness, sourced from partners including UC Santa Barbara CHC, JANUS/AER, and JRC of the European Commission.
• HDX Tabular Data Endpoints API endpoints providing programmatic access to structured tabular humanitarian datasets hosted on HDX, enabling automated data retrieval for technical users and downstream applications.

Quantifiable outcome

• 68% of crisis data available and up-to-date across 22 humanitarian operations
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability7 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• MetacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 October 2024Partnership with Meta for population data. WorldPop is partnering with Meta on training data to create high-resolution population maps. OCHA and Meta partnering to give humanitarians open access to population data.
• IOM DTM APIcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 July 2024IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix API launched in 2024, providing standardized data on dates, locations, and internally displaced persons dating back to 2010. Accessed over 82,000 times since introduction.
• JANUS Atmospheric and Environmental ResearchcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 March 2024Shares FloodScan: Near Real-Time and Historical Flood Mapping dataset on HDX since March 2024. Provides global flood extent mapping using passive microwave satellite data, allowing responders to monitor floods even under cloud cover.
• Joint Research Centre of the European CommissioncoreTechnology or Integration · 1 December 2022Contributes Anomaly Hotspots of Agricultural Production (ASAP) dataset on HDX since December 2023. ASAP is an operational early warning system tracking hotspots of agricultural production anomalies across crop and rangeland areas for 80 countries.
• ACLEDcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Long-standing data partner sharing conflict data through HDX. One of the organizations acknowledged for continuing to maintain and share data year after year.
• HOTOSM (Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Provides satellite-derived, crowd-sourced mapping data for populated places, roads, education facilities, and health facilities. Data maintained through satellite-derived, crowd-sourced model ensuring continued availability.
• REACHcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Humanitarian initiative that conducts Multi-Sector Needs Assessments (MSNAs) shared through HDX. In 2025, conducted 14 MSNAs covering humanitarian contexts.
• UNFPAcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Long-standing partner providing population data, though capacity to process new updates was reduced in 2025 due to funding cuts. Contributes to population sub-category of Data Grids.
• UNHCRcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Provides refugee and displacement data through HDX. Long-standing partner that continues to maintain and share data. Refugee registration systems slowed in 2025 with 40 percent reduction in data-related staff.
• IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Provides acute food insecurity data included in food security sub-category of Data Grids. Partners prioritized most severe crises for food security analysis in 2025.
• ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2020Co-founder of Humanitarian Data and Trust Initiative (HDTI) to explore protection and responsible use of data in humanitarian action. Partnership includes Policy & Dialogue, Research & Development, and Education & Outreach pillars.
• Government of SwitzerlandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2020Co-founder of Humanitarian Data and Trust Initiative (HDTI) alongside ICRC and OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data. Focuses on policy dialogue and building consensus on responsible data management.
• Rockefeller FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 June 2020Strategic partnership to increase use of predictive analytics for anticipatory action. Focus on developing new models, providing peer review processes, and closing data gaps. Partnership enabled scaling up of model peer reviews for operational use in humanitarian response.
• Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2020Partnership to develop OCHA-Bucky COVID-19 model for humanitarian contexts. Initial model developed for Afghanistan and extended to DRC, South Sudan, Sudan and other priority countries. Provides projections to inform planning of non-pharmaceutical interventions.
• MapActionminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 May 2019Pilot partnership to test remote curation support for Data Grids. MapAction provides feedback on the Data Grid feature design and potential for remote curation support.
• Education Above All (EAA) FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 March 2018Partnership to improve access to data on education in emergencies through HDX. Includes expanding Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) to include education-specific tags. Also includes the Data Fellows Programme with an education focus.
• UC Santa Barbara Climate Hazards CentercoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2015Produces CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data) dataset since 2015. Provides high-resolution climate projections for drought monitoring and food security. New CHIRPS version 3 became available in 2025.
• WorldPopcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2013WorldPop has been valuable partner of HDX since 2016, sharing over 1,000 datasets covering population counts, age and sex structures, births, and population density for 248 countries and territories. In 2024, these datasets were downloaded over 76,000 times.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• ReliefWeb: OCHA's flagship humanitarian news and information platform serving the same humanitarian coordination audience with curated reports, jobs, and training. Operates under the same UN/OCHA parent and shares HDX's mandate of connecting humanitarian actors to authoritative information.
• ACAPS: Independent NGO providing humanitarian needs analysis, secondary data review, and crisis monitoring reports. Serves the same humanitarian decision-makers with overlapping analytical outputs, and is a comparable independent (non-UN) humanitarian data and analysis provider.
• WorldPop: University of Southampton-hosted research group producing high-resolution global population data, a long-standing HDX data partner. Comparable as a primary-source open data platform with overlapping humanitarian/policy audience and similar open-data licensing model.
• OCHA Financial Tracking Service (FTS): Sister OCHA platform that tracks humanitarian funding flows globally. While FTS focuses on financial data rather than operational/humanitarian data, both are core OCHA data services stewarded for the humanitarian ecosystem and face similar donor-dependence dynamics.
• Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOTOSM): Community-driven open geospatial data platform serving humanitarian response with crowd-sourced and satellite-derived mapping. Operates as a peer open data infrastructure for a key HDX category (geography and infrastructure), with overlapping audiences and similar open-data ethos.
• REACH Initiative: Humanitarian initiative conducting Multi-Sector Needs Assessments (MSNAs) and other field data collection. A long-standing HDX data partner that produces primary assessment data consumed by the same humanitarian audience, with overlapping methods and outputs.
• IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM): IOM's primary operational system for tracking internal displacement across 51 countries, with a public API integrated into HDX/HAPI. Comparable as a primary-source displacement data platform serving the same humanitarian actors, though DTM is operationally focused while HDX is a meta-platform.
• ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project): Leading provider of real-time conflict event data, distributed through HDX. Operates as a peer open-data platform for a specific humanitarian data category (conflict), with comparable open-access distribution model and overlapping policy/research audience.
• Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC): Leading source of data and analysis on internal displacement worldwide. Operates a global data platform with comparable coverage of a key HDX category (displacement), serving overlapping humanitarian and policy audiences.
• Data Friendly Space: Specialized data-services organization supporting humanitarian decision-makers with data engineering, visualization, and analytics. Comparable as a peer organization operating at the intersection of humanitarian operations and data services, though smaller and more service-delivery oriented.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/humdata
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/OCHACentreforHumanitarianData
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ocha-centre-for-humanitarian-data

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data