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Return to current DAC List of ODA Recipients as at 1 January 2005
See lists at the bottom of this page.
Purpose of the list
The DAC List of ODA Recipients is designed for statistical purposes. It helps to measure and classify aid and other resource flows originating in DAC countries. It is not designed as a guide to eligibility for aid or other preferential treatment.
Origins
The DAC has collected data on aid flows since its inception in 1961. In respect of bilateral flows, early data collection related to the following recipients: all countries and territories in Africa except South Africa; in America except the United States and Canada; non-Communist Asian and Oceanic countries except Australia, Japan and New Zealand; and the following in Europe: Cyprus, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Spain, Turkey and Yugoslavia (“Flows of Resources to Developing Countries” OECD, 1973, page 4). All these recipients were eligible for ODA after this concept was introduced in 1969.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Communist countries in Asia, particularly China and Vietnam, started to receive large amounts of aid, and so were added to the data collection. Spain left the list at its request in 1983.
The end of the Cold War signaled the emergence of new economic and political realities. New aid requirements arose in the transition economies of eastern Europe, while rapid progress in east Asia reduced aid needs there. A new list was devised to reflect these developments.
This new “DAC List of Aid Recipients” was introduced in 1993. It was divided into two parts. Only aid to "traditional" developing countries on Part I of the List counted as ODA, for which there is a long-standing United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of donors' national income. Aid to the "more advanced" developing and eastern European countries on Part II of the List was recorded separately as "official aid".
The List of Aid Recipients was reviewed every three years. Countries above the World Bank High Income Country threshold (per capita annual income around USD 9 000 at the time) for three consecutive years progressed to Part II of the List at the end of a three-year notice period. Other countries could also be transferred to Part II after a notice period if they were above the World Bank lending limit (around USD 5 000 annually) for three consecutive years, following consideration by the DAC of their development and resource status. One country transferred in the opposite direction, from Part II to Part I.
With successive revisions, recipient country history on this two-part List became increasingly complex (see note of country coverage changes below). At the same time, aid to more advanced developing and transition countries declined as they became more prosperous, with several former Soviet bloc states joining the European Union and becoming donors themselves. The DAC therefore decided in 2005 to revert to a single List of ODA Recipients, abolishing Part II.
Chronology of changes in recipient country coverage of DAC lists, 1989-2005
After 1989 the following were added to the list of ODA recipients at the dates shown: Albania (1989); the Black Communities of South Africa (1991 - now simply South Africa); Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan (now the Kyrgyz Republic), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (1992); Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan (1993); Palestinian Administered Areas (1994); Moldova (1997); Belarus, Libya and Ukraine (2005). Eritrea, formerly part of Ethiopia, has been recorded as a separate country from 1993. The former United States Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands has been progressively replaced by its independent successor states, viz. Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia (1992); Palau Islands and Northern Marianas (1994).
Data on aid to the following CEEC/NIS countries in transition, first collected in respect of 1990 flows, were recorded against Part II of the List of Aid Recipients (as “official aid”) until and including 2004: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Ukraine. Flows to Moldova were recorded against this category up to and including 1996.
From 1996, the following High-Income Countries were transferred from Part I to Part II of the List: Bahamas, Brunei, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore and United Arab Emirates. From 1997, seven further High-Income Countries were transferred to Part II: Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Chinese Taipei, Cyprus, Falkland Islands, Hong Kong (China), and Israel. From 2000, Aruba, the British Virgin Islands, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Korea, Libya, Macao, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia and the Northern Marianas (until it was removed the following year) progressed to Part II. From 2003, Malta and Slovenia progressed to Part II. From 2005, Bahrain left the List.
Over the same period, the following ODA recipients were removed from the DAC list: Portugal (1991); French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and St Pierre and Miquelon (1992); Greece (1995).
As noted above, Part II of the DAC list was abolished in 2005, and data on official aid to those countries is no longer collected.
Data on total aid to Part I countries (ODA) and total aid to Part II countries (OA) was compiled according to the list in force in the year in question. However, when a country was added to or removed from an income group in Part I, totals for the groups affected were adjusted retroactively to maximize comparability over time with reference to the latest list.
Varying concepts of “developing countries”
In DAC usage, the term "developing country" employed without qualification has generally been taken to mean a country eligible for ODA. Other organisations have their own definitions. The World Bank usually uses the term to refer to low and middle-income countries, assessed by reference to per capita GNI. The new DAC List of ODA Recipients is consistent with World Bank practice, except that it excludes countries that are members of the G8, or the EU, or that have a date of admission to the EU. This means that as at 2005, it excludes the following middle income countries: Russia; and Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovak Republic. Other organisations, treaties, etc. often have a membership category designed for “developing countries”, and use the term to refer to the countries in that category.
Fortunately, however, these differences in coverage are usually minor. The DAC statistics, based on the DAC List, provide an authoritative guide to aid flows which is accepted and used by donors, recipients and international bodies.
Disclaimer
Any reference in the present or past DAC lists to States, entities or territories shall neither imply recognition by OECD member States nor approval by OECD member States of the designations used. The designations “countries” and “territories” are used as generic terms and do not carry any special meaning as to the political or legal classification of the recipients concerned.
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