Key messages:

In 2025, official development assistance (ODA) by member countries and associates of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) amounted to USD 174.3 billion (Chart 1), representing 0.26% of their combined gross national income (GNI).

Total ODA fell by 23.1%, in real terms , compared to 2024. This is the largest annual contraction recorded in the history of ODA, bringing ODA levels back to where they stood at the start of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The decline in ODA was broad-based but heavily concentrated. While 26 of 34 members reduced their ODA, the five largest providers combined (France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) accounted for 95.7% of the total fall in DAC ODA in 2025. The United States alone drove three-quarters (75.1%) of the decline, with its ODA falling by 56.9%, marking the largest reduction by any provider in any year on record. Significant cuts were also reported by Germany (-17.4%), France (-10.9%), the United Kingdom (-10.8%), and Japan (-5.6%). This is the first year when these five providers all reduced their ODA simultaneously. The scale of the decline by the United States meant that Germany became the largest provider of ODA for the first time.

As shown on chart 2, DAC member countries’ bilateral ODA in 2025 amounted to USD 126.4 billion, a 26.4% decrease on a grant equivalent basis, driven by declines in grants (-29.1%) while sovereign loans fell by 10.3%. ODA to private sector instruments increased by 13.1% , accounting for 2.6% of total ODA. Substantial declines in DAC countries’ humanitarian assistance (-35.8%, amounting to USD 15.5 billion) and in-donor refugee costs (-22.1%, amounting to USD 23.0 billion) contributed to the overall decline in bilateral ODA. DAC countries’ multilateral ODA in 2025 amounted to USD 47.9 billion, a decline of 12.7% on a grant equivalent basis. Multilateral ODA has now fallen for two consecutive years, declining by 21.3% since 2023. Declines were concentrated in core contributions to the UN system (-27.0%), representing the largest annual decline in UN core funding on record. Cuts by the United States (-87.2% to UN) were the primary driver of the decline in contributions to the UN. Core support to the World Bank and to regional development banks, by contrast, increased by 6.4% and 11.9% respectively.

NB: This note is based on OECD members’ responses to the DAC Advance Questionnaire on main ODA aggregates. Final and detailed figures for official and private flows to developing countries will be available in December 2026.