Data from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) disclosed an unprecedented 23.1% decline in official development assistance (ODA) between 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n
ODA by OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members and associates amounted to $174.3bn in 2025, a 23.1% decrease over 2024. <\/p>\n
Bilateral ODA to least developed countries and sub-Saharan Africa fell by 25.8% and 26.3% respectively.<\/p>\n
The “historic decline in foreign aid” is the largest annual contraction on record and a second consecutive year of decline, the organisation said. <\/p>\n
“These reversals raise concerns about developing countries’ fiscal space, and about the efficiency and catalytic potential of the remaining ODA. Projections suggest a further 5.8% drop in DAC ODA in 2026, not yet accounting for additional strain from the current crisis in the Middle East,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
US leads OECD development decline<\/p>\n
The United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and France (ranked by ODA volume) accounted for 95.7% of the total decline in ODA. The United States alone drove three-quarters of the decline, with its ODA falling by 56.9% compared to 2024 – the largest reduction in volume by any provider in any year on record. In 2025, Germany was the largest DAC provider of ODA for the first time in history, with its ODA totalling $29.1bn. Eight DAC members increased their ODA.<\/p>\n
Humanitarian ODA from DAC countries fell 35.8% to $15.5bn, the second consecutive fall after five years of growth (2019-2023). ODA to development programmes, projects and technical co-operation (excluding in-donor refugee costs, humanitarian aid and debt relief) declined by 26.3%, the largest drop on record for this component. <\/p>\n
“The significant decline in 2025 suggests that cuts have extended beyond components of aid that typically fluctuate from year to year, such as in-donor refugee costs and humanitarian aid,” the authors wrote. <\/p>\n
Bilateral ODA fell by 26.4% to $126.4bn, while multilateral ODA declined by 12.7% to $47.9bn. For multilateral ODA, which fell for the second year in a row, declines were concentrated in core contributions to the UN system at -27%, the largest annual drop on record. In contrast, contributions to the World Bank and regional development banks increased.<\/p>\n
Experts warn of havoc<\/p>\n
Development experts say the impact of cuts to development assistance is already being felt across the world’s poorest countries, cutting access to healthcare, education and food for millions.<\/p>\n
Matthew Simonds, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer for the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) said that “scarce aid resources are not being delivered in the interests of the Global South.”<\/p>\n
“A more stable and prosperous world benefits everyone. That is what an economy of care, backed by well-targeted development assistance, delivers. It produces real results: more children surviving, families accessing healthcare, communities thriving.<\/p>\n
“We must recognise the proven impact of well-targeted development cooperation and build a future grounded in justice and global solidarity. There are ongoing discussions which provide a critical opportunity to turn these commitments into action.”<\/p>\n
Civil society organisations are calling on leaders of wealthy countries to commit to long-standing international targets adopted by the United Nations which call for countries to commit 0.7% of gross national income to ODA and 0.15 – 0.2% to least developed countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Data from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) disclosed an unprecedented 23.1% decline in official development assistance (ODA) … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[41,42,44,43,45],"class_list":["post-24662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy-finance","tag-economy","tag-finance","tag-market","tag-stocks","tag-trades"],"yoast_head":"\n