Global official development assistance declined in 2024

The official development assistance (ODA) declined in 2024 both in Finland and globally. Ukraine, which is heavily affected by Russia’s war of aggression, is the largest recipient of Finland’s ODA for the third consecutive year.

Today, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released preliminary data on official development assistance (ODA) in 2024 by member countries of the organisation’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Ukraine continued to be the largest single recipient of ODA. DAC members used a total of EUR 14.3 billion (USD 15.5 billion) in ODA to support Ukraine in 2024. The total amount of global ODA decreased after several years of increase.

Finland’s ODA decreased from the previous year

Finland’s official development assistance (ODA) in 2024 totalled EUR 1,302 million. The amount represented 0.47 per cent of Finland’s gross national income (GNI), according to the OECD’s preliminary data. This is a decrease of EUR 165 million from 2023. In percentage terms, Finland’s ODA spending fell by 12.9 per cent from 2023.

Finland’s exclusive ODA, administered by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and appropriations under the item Humanitarian assistance to Ukraine totalled EUR 647 million, while Finland’s other ODA totalled EUR 654 million. Other ODA include Finland’s share of the EU’s ODA budget and share of in-donor refugee costs.

The key differences from the previous year are that some country programmes were discontinued and that country- and region-specific ODA decreased. Country-specific support was EUR 74 million less than in the previous year. No new development policy loans and investments were recorded for 2024; however, the first repayment of capital, EUR 1.5 million, recorded in 2024 was by the climate fund managed by the International Finance Corporation IFC.

ODA channelled through multilateral organisations and Finnish CSOs, Ukraine the largest recipient

A significant share of Finland’s ODA in 2024 was channelled through the EU (EUR 339 million), the UN (EUR 252 million) and the World Bank Group (EUR 58 million). EUR 121 million in support was channelled through Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs). This figure includes humanitarian assistance channelled through the Finnish CSOs.

An estimated EUR 289 million in ODA funding, representing 0.10 per cent of Finland’s GNI, was allocated to least developed countries (LDCs). The amount includes support channelled through multilateral organisations.

Ukraine remained Finland’s largest partner country in development cooperation: in addition to EUR 34 million in payments, EUR 25 million was transferred for increasing the capital of Finnfund to be used for investments and loans in Ukraine. EUR 58 million has been reserved in the Budget for the support to Ukraine. In addition to direct official development assistance, in-donor refugee costs for Ukrainians were reported as Finland’s ODA.

Last year, Finland granted EUR 127 million in humanitarian assistance as part of the official development assistance. Humanitarian assistance responds to sudden effects of natural disasters, armed conflicts and other crises and relieves human distress.

ODA in other OECD and EU countries

Globally, the official development assistance (ODA) amounted to USD 212 billion (EUR 196 billion) in 2024, falling by 7.1 per cent compared to the previous year. The biggest donors were the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and France. The UN agreed target of spending 0.7 per cent of GNI on ODA was exceeded by Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden. DAC members’ average ODA to GNI ratio was 0.33 per cent. 

Together, the EU and its Member States were the largest donor of ODA. The ODA expenditure of the EU Member States that are members of DAC totalled around EUR 82 billion (USD 88.7 billion), representing 42 per cent of total ODA. The sum is 0.47 per cent of the combined GNI of the DAC-EU countries. The expenditure fell by 8.6 per cent compared to 2023. The impact of inflation has been taken into account in the percentages describing changes in the level of funding.
 

Ten member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) increased their ODA expenditure, whereas in 22 DAC member countries ODA expenditure fell.

The final statistics for the year 2024 will be published at the end of 2025. The data will be updated as regards the regional breakdown of spending, among other data. The ODA to GNI ratio may change as well once revised data is available.