The OECD’s aid statistics seek to inform taxpayers in OECD members and other countries about what is being spent on aid overseas. In doing so, they enable the public to see what governments are doing with their money. These statistics are completely transparent and publicly available to users.
ODA trends and statistics
The OECD is the only official source of reliable, comparable, and complete statistics on official development assistance (ODA). From high-level overviews to granular perspectives, OECD statistics on ODA help our users answer the question, “Who is spending what, where, and when?”
Key messages
The OECD’s database on individual aid activities, allows users to understand the key characteristics of ODA to help inform the policies and programmes of development co-operation providers in low- and middle-income countries.
The database, with information on more than 60 attributes variables for each activity, provides a comprehensive perspective on what ODA is doing worldwide.
Many OECD governments have agreed to international commitments, enshrined in domestic legislation, on where and how to spend their aid to maximise results or benefit the neediest countries.
An example is the UN target to spend 0.7% of a provider’s national wealth on ODA. The OECD’s aid statistics help to hold its members and other providers accountable to meeting such commitments.
Members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) are required to report their ODA statistics to the OECD. Many bilateral providers outside of the DAC have been reporting their statistics to the OECD on a voluntary basis, as have multilateral agencies on outflows from their core resources.
These initiatives have improved the OECD’s ability to provide a comprehensive perspective on development finance flows to partner countries.
Context
Official development assistance in historical perspective: 1960-2024
After five years of consecutive growth in the face of compounded crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, DAC member countries’ total ODA fell by 7.1% in 2024, compared to 2023. It nevertheless remained 23% higher than 2019 levels.
Components of official development assistance across provider countries, 2000 onwards
In 2024, the decrease in net ODA from DAC member countries over 2023 was driven by a fall in contributions to the core budgets of multilateral organisations, as well as declines of in-donor refugee costs, humanitarian aid, and aid for Ukraine.
Donor emphasis on gender equality increased in 2022-23
In 2022-23, the volume of ODA with gender equality objectives increased to USD 68.7 billion, and its share of total bilateral allocable ODA went up to 46%, a rebound from the previous period. This increase shows progress in DAC members' policies, practices and development finance prioritising gender equality.
