Is the United Nations still relevant?

Is the UN still relevant? I'll gather current perspectives on its role and challenges.

Short answer: Yes — but its relevance is uneven, contested, and increasingly conditional on reform.

As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary in 2025-2026, the debate is not whether people have abandoned it, but whether it can still deliver on its core promises.

1. Why many still say the UN is relevant

It remains the only universal forum.

> The 81st General Assembly was a reminder that the world still needs the United Nations — and that its universality must not become hostage to the convenience of the powerful.

For all its infirmities, the UN remains the one place where leaders who may be estranged, hostile or even at war can nevertheless come within diplomatic reach of one another.

To bypass it is to diminish the only universal forum in which states, whatever their power, possess an equal voice and where international law may still provide a measure of protection against sheer force.

The practical indicator cited by analysts: its more than 190 member states, with only a few exceptions, are sending representatives ... The vast majority are sending heads of state, presidents, or prime ministers - sheer participation is seen as a clear indicator that the United Nations is widely viewed to be politically relevant.

Public opinion is still largely favorable.

A Pew Research Center survey in September 2025 covering 31,938 adults in 25 countries found that a median of 61 percent had a favorable view of the world organization, while only 32 percent had an unfavorable one.

Earlier, a median of 58% across 35 countries have a favorable view. In the United States, 57 percent overall view the United Nations favorably, and 63 percent said their country benefited from UN membership.

The Chicago Council notes several nations — such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Germany — have seen favorable views rise over the past year.

It does work that would not happen otherwise.

The assessment in 2025-2026 notes the UN remains relevant particularly in humanitarian coordination, international law, refugee protection, and global health.

Four UN entities — the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have primary roles in the delivery of relief assistance, while the World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the response to humanitarian health emergencies.

Analysts point to a complex legacy with remarkable successes in peacekeeping, human rights, and global cooperation:

Even recent examples show small-state agency: In 2025 the General Assembly adopted by consensus its first common Declaration on Sea-Level Rise affirming that maritime zones established under the Law of the Sea should remain stable notwithstanding sea-level rise — a signal achievement for Small Island Developing States.

For those states, multilateralism is not a ceremonial attachment... It remains an essential instrument of sovereignty, survival and dignity.

As one commentary argues: That doesn't mean the United Nations has an answer [on every issue like AI] but it does demonstrate why the UN remains relevant.

2. Why many say it is losing relevance

The core political function is paralysed.

> The UN's enduring relevance and structural impotence are as apparent as ever. The Security Council remains paralysed by great power vetoes while some of its most powerful members openly flout international law.

The UN Security Council's structure is criticized as outdated, giving disproportionate power to the five permanent members (P5). Peacekeeping missions sometimes lack resources or clear mandates, and bureaucracy, slow decisionmaking, and political influence reduce effectiveness.

Critics argue the UN does not adequately represent developing countries and needs institutional reform, with widespread calls for reform of the UNSC, including proposals to expand permanent membership or change the veto system.

India's External Affairs Minister Jaishankar argued that continued resistance to reform risks deepening perceptions of irrelevance, calling the UN "largely irrelevant" as Security Council gridlock erodes global relevance.

Legitimacy is eroded by great-power hypocrisy.

Analysts describe the most fundamental challenge to relevance as intimately linked to perceptions of its legitimacy. For many, this has been irretrievably compromised.

Examples cited in 2025 include:

The UN's failures — including the unresolved Palestinian question and ongoing wars in Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar and across the Middle East — feed the perception that outside these walls, people are not asking whether the United Nations still exists. They are asking whether it works.

Peacekeeping itself counts among major failures, such as the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8000 Muslim men and boys in a UN-declared 'safe area', and failures in Rwanda, Somalia and Angola linked to limited powers given to operations.

Financial and political retrenchment.

When measured by its ability to deliver impactful, material solutions, the United Nations' relevance looks far worse. It has been radically diminished by the United States' decision to delay critical budgetary support and put caps on its contributions to UN peacekeeping.

Other factors cited for decreasing effectiveness and relevance include under-funding, mounting bureaucracy, lack of unity, and disagreements among states.

The U.S. still owes the organization $1.312 billion under its funding obligations, and in some reporting up to $1.5 billion. The U.S. has also withdrawn from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council, shrinking the UN's ability to tackle climate change, global health risks, humanitarian disasters and development goals.

Decades of negotiations on Security Council reform have not produced real outcomes, and the UN80 reform initiative has been criticized for focusing on cost-cutting rather than fundamental changes.

3. Verdict: Indispensable but not effective enough

Most experts in 2025-2026 land on a paradox, well captured by the Chicago Council's framing: Undercut by financial shortfalls, US retrenchment, and growing geopolitical divides, can the UN remain a vital stage for global diplomacy or will competing powers shape a world order that sidelines it?

The answer emerging is:

The General Assembly President at the 80th anniversary captured the public mood: the organization must evolve to 'stand strong' for the next 80 years and accept "hard truths" to rebuild trust — because the question is no longer whether the UN exists, but whether it works.