The United Kingdom plans to reduce international aid spending to increase funding for defense. These cuts would take UK aid to their lowest level in over 25 years. This plan puts hundreds of thousands of lives at risk.
On 25 February, the British Prime Minister announced that the UK would be reducing foreign aid spending to increase funding for defense. From 2027, the aid budget will be cut from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% of GNI, equivalent to approximately a 40% cut in current prices, to help offset an increase in defense spending from 2.3% of GNI to 2.5% of GNI.
Capping the UK’s aid budget at 0.3% of GNI would put UK aid at its lowest level in over 25 years - at a time when global crises are compounding, and the needs are greater than ever.
Out of the UK’s top 20 bilateral recipients of aid, thirteen are fragile and conflict affected states, including Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, Syria, and Afghanistan. ONE’s recent analysis shows that conflict prevention is significantly less costly than crisis response: every $1 spent on activities that spur economic growth and political stability can avert spending of up to $103 on a future conflict.
Most critically, UK aid saves lives, educates children, averts global health crises, and helps boost economic prosperity. The UK’s plan to cut aid puts hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. Our analysis shows that a blanket 40% cut to the UK’s contribution to multilateral institutions alone could result in:
These are just the results based on a fraction of the UK’s aid, and yet show the devastating impact it would have if the UK turned its back on the world’s most vulnerable.
This analysis is produced using results from Gavi, the Global Fund and the World Food Programme. For this analysis, ONE assumes the UK will cut by 40% its previous pledge to Gavi's 3rd replenishment in 2020 and the Global Fund's 7th replenishment in 2022. It also assumes a 40% cut to the World Food Programme contribution, which is annual.
ONE calculated the share of the UK's previous contribution towards the total ask for each replenishment, or annual contributions towards the WFP, under both the previous contribution and a 40% cut scenario.
Once determined, the UK share was multiplied to the impact statistic expected to be achieved by a fully funded replenishment (or year for WFP), under both funding scenarios.
The resulting difference is the number of people who will miss out on the impact of the institutions as a result of the cut. For the Global Fund and Gavi, pledges are reflected in USD as reported by each institution for comparability with the ask for replenishment. For WFP, contributions are reflected in USD based on institutional reporting.