UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland estimates more than 180,000 people have died in Sudan's Darfur from hunger and disease over the past 18 months.
The deaths do not include people killed during violence in Sudan's arid western region, the UN said today.
Last week Mr Egeland said that earlier estimates of 70,000 dead from last March to late summer were too low. He now estimates an average of 10,000 people have died each month over the past year and a half from malnutrition and disease.
Conflict has raged in Darfur for more than two years as rebel groups fighting the government for power and resources. In response, the government has armed some militia. The most brutal one, known as the Janjaweed, has killed, raped, and driven two million people from their homes.
The UN Security Council this week expects to adopt a resolution that would authorise a 10,000-member peacekeeping force in southern Sudan to monitor a landmark accord that ended 21 years of civil war.
On Darfur, China and Algeria have not yet agreed to US proposals for a travel ban and asset freeze on those who impede the peace process, conduct offensive military overflights or are responsible for atrocities.
Council members also are at odds over where to try cases of gross human rights violations. The United States is opposed to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and instead has proposed a new tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. No other council member supports that proposal.