How much aid goes to southern and Central Asia?

Southern and Central Asia receive significant amounts of official development assistance, or ODA. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development classifies these countries as belonging to these regions: South Asia: • Afghanistan • Bangladesh • Bhutan • India • Maldives • Nepal • Pakistan • Sri Lanka Central Asia: • Armenia • Azerbaijan • Georgia • Kazakhstan • Kyrgyzstan • Myanmar • Tajikistan • Turkmenistan • Uzbekistan The world’s highest peaks, such as Mount Everest, are located in the Himalayas in South Asia. The Pamirs and Tian Shan mountain ranges dominate Central Asia, creating high-altitude landscapes in the region. Within these natural wonders lie a tumultuous landscape of inequality and human rights issues. Afghanistan is facing human rights issues under the Taliban leadership. According to Amnesty International, women and girls faced crimes against humanity due to gender persecution. They continued to be deprived of their rights. Moreover, the Shia-Hazara community — a Muslim religious minority in Afghanistan — continues to face targeted attacks and killings. In Bangladesh, there is turmoil after the overthrow of the previous ruling party, with the transitional government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus struggling to establish stability. Recently, in Nepal, huge protests broke out in response to poor governance and leadership. Though the protest was highly impactful, it was also the deadliest and most destructive protest the country has experienced. Sri Lanka is struggling with its poverty rate. Despite the aid it has received from the International Monetary Fund, it is expected that its poverty rate will remain above 22% until 2026. All of these issues happened in just four countries — the tip of the iceberg. Is the region getting the aid that it needs to address these issues? In order to find out, we used the creditor reporting system from the OECD. We also utilized the country development finance data from the International Aid Transparency Initiative, or IATI. The OECD creditor reporting system combines South Asia and Central Asia into one dataset, which will be the basis of our analysis. The figures presented are in 2023 constant prices unless stated otherwise. Unlike other Devex analyses, ODA data is not provided in grant-equivalent format, the OECD’s normal preferred measure, because region-specific data is not available in that format. This is a particular issue for this dataset, because Japan — one of the largest funders to the region — provides significant amounts of loan funding. Given the uncertain nature of future contributions from the United States, we will also present figures that do not include its contribution. From 2019 to 2023, the region received a total of $81.6 billion in ODA. In 2023 alone, the region received $16.5 billion, which is a slight dip from $16.8 billion in 2022. <div class='tableauPlaceholder' id='viz1762855011615' style='position: relative'><noscript><a href='#'><img alt='Dashboard 1 ' src='https:&#47;&#47;public.tableau.com&#47;static&#47;images&#47;2B&#47;2BNKDDJW3&#47;1_rss.png' style='border: none' /></a></noscript><object class='tableauViz' style='display:none;'><param name='host_url' value='https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableau.com%2F' /> <param name='embed_code_version' value='3' /> <param name='path' value='shared&#47;2BNKDDJW3' /> <param name='toolbar' value='yes' /><param name='static_image' value='https:&#47;&#47;public.tableau.com&#47;static&#47;images&#47;2B&#47;2BNKDDJW3&#47;1.png' /> <param name='animate_transition' value='yes' /><param name='display_static_image' value='yes' /><param name='display_spinner' value='yes' /><param name='display_overlay' value='yes' /><param name='display_count' value='yes' /><param name='language' value='en-US' /></object></div><param name='device' value='desktop' /><param name='showShareOptions' value='false' /> <script type='text/javascript'> var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1762855011615'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='727px';} var scriptElement = document.createElement('script'); scriptElement.src = 'https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement); </script> <i style=font-style: georgia;”>Year-on-year comparison of ODA received by southern and central Asia from 2019–2023.</i> Who gave the most? Japan is the biggest donor to the region. It provided $7 billion, accounting for 42.7% of the total aid received in 2023. Its biggest recipient is India. India received $3.8 billion, accounting for more than half of Japan’s aid total. Next is Bangladesh, which received almost $2 billion from Japan. Myanmar follows with $463 million. Then Uzbekistan with $280.8 million, and then Afghanistan with $165.6 million. The United States is the second-largest donor to the region. It gave $3.8 billion, accounting for 22.9% of the total aid. Its largest recipient is Afghanistan with $1.2 billion. Next comes Bangladesh, with $450.5 million; Pakistan, with $277.1 million; and then Myanmar, with $236.9 million. The U.S. also gave $619.6 million in aid for projects executed in multiple countries within the region. The OECD labels this as “Southern and Central Asia, unspecified.” The third-largest donor is Germany, giving $2.2 billion — 13.2% of the total aid to the region. Its largest recipient is India with $1.1 billion. Afghanistan follows with $275.2 million, Bangladesh with $183.2 million, Pakistan with $138.4 million, and Georgia with $79.4 million. Where did the money go? Overall, India was the biggest recipient of aid. It received a total of $5.6 billion. This is followed by Bangladesh with $3.4 billion. Afghanistan received $2.3 billion, Myanmar got $1.1 billion, and Pakistan received nearly $800 million. <div class='tableauPlaceholder' id='viz1762856533938' style='position: relative'><noscript><a href='#'><img alt='Dashboard 1 ' src='https:&#47;&#47;public.tableau.com&#47;static&#47;images&#47;23&#47;23HY2WBR2&#47;1_rss.png' style='border: none' /></a></noscript><object class='tableauViz' style='display:none;'><param name='host_url' value='https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableau.com%2F' /> <param name='embed_code_version' value='3' /> <param name='path' value='shared&#47;23HY2WBR2' /> <param name='toolbar' value='yes' /><param name='static_image' value='https:&#47;&#47;public.tableau.com&#47;static&#47;images&#47;23&#47;23HY2WBR2&#47;1.png' /> <param name='animate_transition' value='yes' /><param name='display_static_image' value='yes' /><param name='display_spinner' value='yes' /><param name='display_overlay' value='yes' /><param name='display_count' value='yes' /><param name='language' value='en-US' /><param name='filter' value='publish=yes' /></object></div><param name='device' value='desktop' /><param name='showShareOptions' value='false' /> <script type='text/javascript'> var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1762856533938'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='727px';} var scriptElement = document.createElement('script'); scriptElement.src = 'https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement); </script> <i style=font-style: georgia;”>The top ODA recipients in southern and central Asia in 2023.</i> Sector-wise, the transport and storage sector was funded the most with $4.6 billion. Most of the aid came from Japan with $4.1 billion, and then Germany with $187 million. The next sector is humanitarian aid with $2.5 billion. The United States is at the forefront of funding this sector with $1.7 billion. Followed by Australia with $121.8 million, and then Japan with $112.5 million. Energy is another priority sector with almost $2 billion in aid. Japan is the largest donor to the sector with $1.2 billion. Germany comes next with $483.1 million, and then the U.S. with almost $140 million. <div class='tableauPlaceholder' id='viz1762856620566' style='position: relative'><noscript><a href='#'><img alt='Dashboard 1 ' src='https:&#47;&#47;public.tableau.com&#47;static&#47;images&#47;96&#47;9692QJJXR&#47;1_rss.png' style='border: none' /></a></noscript><object class='tableauViz' style='display:none;'><param name='host_url' value='https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableau.com%2F' /> <param name='embed_code_version' value='3' /> <param name='path' value='shared&#47;9692QJJXR' /> <param name='toolbar' value='yes' /><param name='static_image' value='https:&#47;&#47;public.tableau.com&#47;static&#47;images&#47;96&#47;9692QJJXR&#47;1.png' /> <param name='animate_transition' value='yes' /><param name='display_static_image' value='yes' /><param name='display_spinner' value='yes' /><param name='display_overlay' value='yes' /><param name='display_count' value='yes' /><param name='language' value='en-US' /><param name='filter' value='publish=yes' /></object></div><param name='device' value='desktop' /><param name='showShareOptions' value='false' /> <script type='text/javascript'> var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1762856620566'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='727px';} var scriptElement = document.createElement('script'); scriptElement.src = 'https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement); </script> <i style=font-style: georgia;”>The top-funded sectors of southern and central Asia in 2023.</i> Who were the top implementers? According to the data from IATI, the whole of southern and Central Asia received $38 billion in funding. This drastically differs from the data provided by the OECD. This is because the IATI data contains private financing and other aid flows. When it comes to reporting organizations — those that provide money — the World Bank reported the most, with $12.1 billion. The Asian Development Bank comes in second with $7.4 billion. The now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development comes in third with $2.6 billion. The top receiving organizations — those who implement the projects — are a mix of United Nations institutions and governmental bodies. There is around $6.5 billion unaccounted for. This is because there are some projects where the receiving organization is not directly named. For example, in some cases, USAID may have redacted information. The World Food Programme received the most funding with $2.4 billion. This is followed by the Food and Agriculture Organization with $1.8 billion. The Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan comes in third with $800 million. This is followed by the Ministry of Finance of India with $750 million. What can we expect? The U.S. is one of the biggest donors in the region. Without the U.S., funding dropped to $12.7 billion overall. The decrease in aid will certainly be impactful, especially in Afghanistan, where the U.S. gave $1.2 billion in 2023. However, the impact of the decrease is not as robust compared in other regions. This is because there are other major donors, such as Japan, that primarily fund southern and Central Asia. The humanitarian aid sector will be the hardest hit. The sector can expect a loss of almost $1 billion — 10% of all funding — if the U.S. ceases to fund. Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free five-day trial, and explore funding opportunities from over 850 sources in addition to our analysis and news content.