Foreign aid expenditure in OECD countries (discontinued), 2013

Figures from the OECD show that the total development assistance from the DAC countries increased in 2013, after a two-year period of decreasing shares of GNI. The level of development aid in volumes was at an all time high, despite the considerable fiscal tightening in a number of DAC countries since the financial crisis.

Falling short of the UN’s target

Development assistance comparisons as a percentage of GNI are often used to measure countries’ expenditure on foreign aid. In 1970, the UN decided that development aid should account for 0.70 per cent of GNI. Norway, Sweden and Denmark achieved this goal relatively quickly in the 1970s. However, in 2013, only the three Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg achieved the target. For the DAC countries in total, the UN goal remains distant, with a share of 0.30 per cent of GNI combined.

USA by far the largest contributor

With USD 31.5 billion in development assistance, the USA was by far the largest contributor in terms of monetary values. Following the USA, the largest contributors were the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and France. These five countries contributed approximately USD 86.6 billion in development assistance, which is 64 per cent of the total for the DAC countries.

Norway had the largest share of development aid

Norway’s contributions to development aid increased from 0.93 per cent of GNI in 2012 to 1.07 per cent in 2013. This made Norway the largest contributor in terms of percentages of GNI, followed by Sweden and Luxembourg. Measured in USD billions, Norway’s development aid was USD 5.6 billion in 2013, which is an increase of 17.4 per cent from 2012. This substantial increase was due to extraordinary disbursements towards prevention of deforestation in the Amazonas.