How much official development assistance does each country get?

How much official development assistance gets spent in each country? Where are donors spending the most money? Which country gets the most money per capita? In order to answer these questions, Devex looked into data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to understand which countries receive both the most overall, and the most relative to their population size. We looked at the $107.2 billion in total grant ODA disbursed worldwide in 2021. Future articles will look at how overall ODA distribution compares to the behavior of individual donors, and how ODA per capita measures up against gross national income per capita. ODA per capita is computed by taking the total amount of ODA that a country has received and dividing the figure by the total population during the time period. It is a useful tool to understand not just where money was spent, but which populations are proportionally receiving the most. Total grant ODA data is extracted from the OECD statistics website while the population data is extracted from the World Bank. Total overall ODA In terms of overall grant ODA received, Syria tops the list with $9.7 billion. This is likely to be due to the country’s internal political turmoil, which caused a 21% increase in people in need of humanitarian aid in 2021. Egypt follows with $5.8 billion, then Afghanistan with $4.6 billion, Yemen with $3.9 billion, Sudan with $3.6 billion, Ethiopia with $3.5 billion, the Democratic Republic of Congo with $2.9 billion, Turkey with $2.6 billion, Somalia with $2.5 billion, and Jordan with $2.5 billion as well. ODA per capita In this section, Devex would be looking at how much grant ODA each person within the country’s population receives. Countries that do not have any reported ODA or population data were excluded from the analysis. A group of small island states were not included in this section because they benefit from a number of special circumstances and exceptions when it comes to ODA disbursement. They will be assessed separately. Syria takes the top spot again with $454.51 ODA per capita, followed by the West Bank and Gaza Strip with $436.61, and Lebanon with $263.84. Small island developing states The group of small island developing states, or SIDS, regardless of their GNI, can always request for additional ODA mainly because of their high vulnerability to natural disasters and climate shocks. Looking at the figures from an overall perspective, SIDS receive a relatively low amount of ODA compared to the countries mentioned above. However, because of the lower population, they have a significantly higher ODA per capita. Tuvalu ranks highest in terms of ODA per capita with $3,255.09 per person, based on just $36.5 million in total grant ODA. This is followed by Nauru with $2,713.61 ODA per capita, and $33.95 million in total ODA. The majority of SIDS with the highest ODA per capita figure are in the East Asia and Pacific region. This may be due to the fact that their geographical placements put them in a vulnerable position to any climate change-related disasters, or it could be down to their importance to the United States and Australia — two large donors near the region. These ideas will be explored further in a future article. Regional overview When looking at the overall total grant ODA figures in 2021, it’s clear that most of the funding goes to the African continent. The North Africa and Middle East region received the highest amount of total grant ODA in 2021 with $33.2 billion overall. The region garners $72 in ODA per capita, also making it the highest among the other regions. Meanwhile, West African countries received $13.6 billion in total grant ODA in 2021 and only $29 in ODA per capita. East Africa follows with $11.5 billion in total grant ODA. Countries in the East Asia and Pacific region received only $8.5 billion in total grant ODA in 2021, and only have an ODA per capita of $4 overall. Latin America and Caribbean states received a total of $6.8 billion in grant ODA with $11 in ODA per capita. 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.