Where do the top donors spend their official development assistance?

Last week, Devex looked at which countries received the most official development assistance. This week’s analysis looks at the top donors — the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, and the EU, to see where their funds are allocated. Devex once again looked at grant ODA data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to analyze the country-level and regional-level priorities of these donors. The analysis will also examine aid per capita, which can be defined as the total grant ODA divided by the population of the recipient countries. This will allow us to see if the ODA received by these countries is proportionate to the population. Total grant ODA data is extracted from the OECD statistics website while the population data is taken from the World Bank. US In 2021, the U.S. has given a total of $23.7 billion in total grant ODA. Over the past five years, Afghanistan was the largest recipient, receiving $1.5 billion in 2021 alone. Ethiopia follows with $1.3 billion received in 2021, which was a huge jump compared to their received funding in 2020, which is $831.9 million. This could be attributed to the Tigray conflict. Jordan comes next with nearly $1.3 billion. U.S. funding to Jordan has remained consistent throughout the past four years. Regionally, the U.S. focused on the African continent in 2021, with a total of $16.6 billion in total grant ODA disbursed. This is followed by Asia with $4.1 billion and then the Latin America and Caribbean region with $2.3 billion. When it comes to ODA per capita, Jordan received the highest with $114.4 in ODA per capita, followed by South Sudan with $74.7 and Eswatini with $51.7. UK The U.K. only spent a total of $3.7 billion in grant ODA in 2021. Its ODA grant spending has continuously been on a decline since 2017. The U.K. also prioritized Afghanistan in 2021, with a total of $258.9 million in grant ODA disbursed. This was followed by Nigeria with $194.3 million and Pakistan with $180.5 million. When it comes to regional distribution, the U.K. seems to be focusing on the Asian and African continents more than the others. Africa received a total of $2.3 billion while Asia received $1.1 billion. These two regions account for the bulk of the U.K.’s overall grant ODA spending. In ODA per capita terms, Lebanon has the highest amount with $14. It is followed by Dominica with $13.5 and South Sudan with $12.3. Germany Germany spent a total of $9.7 billion in grant ODA in 2021. Spending has remained relatively consistent over the past five years, although it rose to $10.1 billion in 2020, which can be attributed to German assistance with the COVID-19 pandemic. Syria received the largest amount of Germany’s funding in 2021 with $670.4 million allocated to them. This was then followed by Afghanistan with $619.1 million. Surprisingly, China received a hefty sum from Germany with almost $425 million in grant ODA. Germany is the only top donor that allocated this much to China. The majority of Germany’s funding went to Africa, with almost $6 billion in grant ODA committed to the continent. It is followed by Asia, which received $2.4 billion; some countries in Europe, particularly in the east, were also given grant ODA with $771.4 million; and the Latin America and Caribbean region received $605 million. Looking at the figures from the perspective of ODA per capita, Lebanon received the most with $63.5 ODA per capita, followed by the West Bank and Gaza with $58.8 and then the Marshall Islands with $37.1. France In 2021, France spent almost $3 billion on grant ODA. Their grant ODA spending has also remained consistent over the past five years. Their funding pattern seems to differ from other donor countries, with much more attention paid to Francophone nations. Morocco received the most funding from France with $192.9 million, second was Côte d'Ivoire with $191.6 million, and third was Algeria with $132.7 million. Unlike the donors mentioned above, which all had Afghanistan as one of their top three recipients, France only spent $44.5 million on Afghanistan in 2021. A total of $2.2 billion — the majority of France’s funding — was allocated to the African continent. The rest of the funding went to Asia, with $387 million, and the Latin America and Caribbean region with $228.8 million. In terms of ODA per capita, Comoros ranks first with $55.7 followed by Lebanon with $22.3 and then Vanuatu with $15.9. Japan Japan spent a total of $3.2 billion in grant ODA in 2021. Again, their funding has remained similar over the past five years. Surprisingly, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, their grant ODA disbursements decreased to just $2.8 billion. Afghanistan received the most grant ODA from Japan with a total of $212.5 million. This was followed by Indonesia with $151.7 million and Myanmar with $150.9 million. It is no surprise that Japan’s regional priorities are focused on Asia. The continent received the majority of the funding with $1.6 billion. Africa comes close with $1.4 billion. Latin America and the Caribbean received $218.7 million and European countries only received $47.4 million. Small island developing states in Asia have the highest ODA per capita. Palau comes in first with a whopping $722.9 in ODA per capita which is then followed by Tuvalu with $283.8 and then Tonga with $129.4. If we were to look at the numbers that do not involve SIDS, the West Bank and Gaza Strip ranks first with $18.6, followed by Bhutan with $13.1, and then Mongolia with $12.3. European Union institutions In 2021, EU institutions spent a total of $11.2 billion in grant ODA. Over the course of five years, the funding from these institutions has remained consistent and always in the range of $9 billion to $11 billion. Turkey received the most funding from the EU institutions with almost $2 billion in 2021 alone. This was followed by Syria with $555.6 million and then Somalia with $361.9 million. Regionally, the African continent received the bulk of the funding with a total of $5.6 billion in grant ODA allocated in 2021. This was followed by the Eastern European countries with $3.3 billion and then Asia with $1.7 billion. Tuvalu ranks first when it comes to ODA per capita when it comes to the EU Institutions with $200.8. It was followed by Montenegro with $104 and then Kosovo with $78.9, which is a reflection of their overall grant ODA funding trend. 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.