Official Development Assistance (ODA)
Official Development Assistance or “global aid” is a transfer of money and resources from predominantly richer countries to developing countries to help fight poverty and support economic development.
Explore this page to see how much countries give in global aid, where aid goes, and on what it is spent. The data is pulled from the official OECD-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) statistics on aid flows.
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Key Numbers
- In 2023, aid totalled US$223.7 billion, a 1.8 % increase from the previous year (preliminary data).
- DAC donors invested 0.37% of their Gross National Income (GNI) as aid. They were US$197 billion off their commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI.
- Aid to African countries totalled US$53.5 billion in 2022, or 25.6% of aid.
- In 2022, 15.3% of aid went to low-income countries, 32.5% to lower-middle income, 9.2% to upper middle income, and 0.1% to high-income countries.
- Health sectors received 15.5% of aid, or US$34.0 billion. Humanitarian was 13.3% of aid, or US$29.1 billion in 2022.
How much do countries give in aid?
In the last sixty years, total aid has grown more than four-fold, from US$38 billion in 1960 to US$223.7 billion in 2023. But the financing needs to solve these global problems are much greater: to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in low-income and lower-middle income countries will likely cost between $1.4 trillion to $3 trillion per year.
Aid has increased significantly in recent years but is far from meeting needs
From 2022 to 2023, total aid increased by 1.8 % in real terms.
Over the last decade, aid as a share of national income (ODA/GNI) has barely risen, going from 0.31% in 2010 to 0.37% in 2023.
Use the drop down menu to select a specific country to see their aid levels over time.
Sources
Aid for COVID, Ukraine and Refugees accounts for the increases in aid spending
In the past two years, the war in Ukraine has significantly affected ODA flows, through both a record high in ‘in-donor refugee costs’ as well as aid to Ukraine.
Excluding both of those categories, and excluding remaining COVID-19 related aid spending, total ODA from DAC countries has actually decreased by 3.6% from 2019-2022 (compared with a 31.5% increase including COVID and refugee spending). The preliminary data on bilateral support for Ukraine in 2023 suggest this trend will contine.
Use the drop down menu to select a specific country to see how spending on refugee costs, COVID-19 and aid to Ukraine changed its ODA spending.
Total ODA is based on “net flows” before 2018, and on “grant equivalents” from 2018.
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Aid to Ukraine surged in 2022
Aid to Ukraine now represents more than 10% of total ODA from DAC countries.
In real terms, donors provided 11 times more aid to Ukraine in 2022 than they did in 2021.
Note: on 11 April 2024, the DAC released preliminary figures on net bilateral ODA flows. Those numbers do not include multilateral support to Ukraine and they are not comparable with this presentation of the data.
See also
⁄Most donors are far from giving 0.7% of national income as aid
In 1970, most countries agreed on a United Nations target of giving 0.7% of national income in aid (ODA/GNI). As recently as 2005 and again in 2015, European Union countries recommitted to this target. However, very few countries have achieved 0.7% since that time, and even fewer have maintained it.
If all countries gave 0.7% ODA/GNI, there would be US$197 billion additional aid available.
Hover over each country bar to see more details. Press the play button at the top of the graph to see changes over the years.
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Where does aid go?
Aid is given by rich countries directly to countries in need. Or it can be given to a multilateral institution – such as the World Bank or UN – which passes on aid to countries and projects. As more and more aid is being spent in donor countries (unspecified aid), aid to other regions is decreasing.
The proportion of aid going to African countries (25.6%) is at its lowest point in over two decades.
The geographic distribution of aid flows
This chart shows total aid to different regions. It includes bilateral as well as imputed multilateral aid.
Choose a donor country to view from the drop down box. Hover over the graph to see more details on percentages and total in USD.
Sources
Aid by country income groupings
This chart shows the destination of aid, based on the World Bank income classifications.
Aid not classified by income is aid that goes to projects or programs that may span across countries/regions, or that goes to core funding of international organisations.
Use the drop down box to choose different donor countries to view. Hover over the bars to get more details.
Sources
What is aid spent on?
Global aid supports a wide range of projects across sectors, from helping people living in poverty meet basic needs – such as humanitarian aid, health, and emergency food aid – to helping countries develop and grow their economies – such as aid to education, infrastructure, and energy.
Aid by sector
This chart shows the amount of aid going to individual sectors or sector groups. Totals for individual donors include bilateral aid plus imputed multilateral aid.
Use the drop down box to choose a country to view. Hover over the graph for amounts.
Other economic infrastructure includes transport, energy, banking, construction, et al. Other social infrastructure includes government and civil society, water and sanitation, peace and security, et al.