The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday said it faces a critical funding shortfall to meet the needs of refugees in Ethiopia.

The UNHCR said it received only 72.2 million US dollars out of the total 385.1 million dollars required to meet the basic nutritional, education, health and accommodation needs of refugees in Ethiopia.

As of June 30, 2020, the UNHCR registered 766,563 refugees and asylum-seekers in Ethiopia, most of whom are housed in refugee camps in six regional states, it said in a monthly fact sheet.

Ethiopia now hosts the second largest refugee population in Africa, after Uganda.

Refugees in Ethiopia primarily come from Eritrea, South Sudan, Somalia and Sudan, according to Ethiopian government figures.

Conflict and drought in neighboring countries continues to force people to seek refuge in Ethiopia, which has a long tradition of hosting refugees.

Ethiopia has also in recent years hosted an increasing number of refugees fleeing conflicts in Yemen and Syria.