The UN has appealed for $US16.4 billion ($A17.7 billion) to provide aid to nearly 60 million people worldwide next year.
"The rising scale of need is outpacing our capacity to respond," warned United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, stressing that 2014 has been marked by a sharp rise in the number of people affected by violent conflicts.
Some 102 million people worldwide were in need of aid at the end of November, she told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
The global appeal from UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations aims to gather funds to help at least 57.5 million of the most vulnerable across 22 countries.
Monday's appeal did not however include the needs in Djibouti and the nine countries in Africa's Sahel region, including Nigeria and Mali, which will be addressed in a separate appeal in February, the UN said.
A full $US7.2 billion of the amount requested for 2015 will be aimed at helping an estimated 18.2 million people victimised by Syria's bloody civil war, which erupted in March 2011.
The appeal is calling for $US2.8 billion to help 12.2 million people inside the war-ravaged country next year, while another $US4.4 million will be needed to help more than three million Syrian refugees and three million vulnerable people in overwhelmed host communities.
Other crises that will also require a large cash injection next year, include Iraq, Central African Republic and South Sudan, as well as the spiralling conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Crises in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will also require funds next year.
"This is not business as usual in the humanitarian world," said Antonio Guterres, head of the UN refugee agency.
The amount requested for 2015 dwarfs the $12.9 billion requested last December in the initial appeal for 2014.
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