Development Co‑operation Profiles

Greece

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Introduction

Greece has experienced a debt crisis and recession in the past decade, resulting in significant cuts to official development assistance (ODA). Greece’s development co-operation is primarily comprised of multilateral expenditure, principally to European Union (EU) institutions, and in-donor refugee costs. Greece’s total ODA (USD 325.3 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2023, representing 0.14% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

The 2021 Law on Development Co-operation and the 2022-25 National Programme guide Greece’s development co-operation policy. The programme sets out a pragmatic geographic concentration on seven countries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as first priorities and an additional eight countries as second priorities; all countries have strong cultural ties to Greece in Southeast Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Black Sea and sub-Saharan Africa. Greece’s priorities are poverty, health, education and sustainable economic development, while climate, governance, gender and digital transformation are to be addressed across the programme. While Hellenic Aid is responsible for planning and formulating Greece’s development co-operation strategy, the majority of Greece’s ODA is disbursed by the Ministry of Finance to EU institutions.

Greece’s multilateral expenditure almost exclusively comprises core contributions, with the only non-core contributions being programmatic funding to EU institutions. Greece seeks to resolve the challenges facing the Mediterranean, Southeast Europe and the Middle East and advocates for a safe marine environment in the eastern Mediterranean.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The OECD-DAC 2022 mid-term review noted Greece’s efforts to reform its legislative, institutional and internal systems – providing the building blocks for effective development co-operation once the bilateral programme resumes. It also highlighted Greece’s improvements in streamlining the management of migration. Given the context of a decreasing ODA budget, with a very limited bilateral budget beyond in-donor refugee costs, Greece has, to date, limited scope to test these reforms. Learn more about Greece’s 2022 mid-term review [DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/9] and 2019 peer review.

ODA allocation overview

Greece provided USD 325.3 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 299.6 million in constant terms) representing 0.14% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 16.9% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2022. While the government has not stated what ODA/GNI ratio it wants to achieve, Greece is committed, at the European level, to collectively achieving a 0.7% ODA/GNI by 2030. Greece provided all of its ODA as grants in 2022.2

In 2023, Greece ranked 30th among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. Greece's ODA is yet to recover from significant cuts in public sector expenditure following the global financial crisis. The increase of in-donor refugee costs in 2022 means that shares of bilateral ODA allocated to other areas may have decreased from 2021 to 2022, even if absolute volumes have not.

 

Notes: Data on official development assistance (ODA) volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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Greece is committed to several international targets and Development Assistance Committee standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC recommendations.

Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)	0.7	0.16	0.17	0.14
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.03	0.02
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	100	2.2
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		94.9	2.9
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	100	100

Note: ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee. This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations.

Greece provided most of its ODA multilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 27.7% of total ODA disbursements. Twenty per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Greece allocated 72.3% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, Greece provided USD 280.1 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 4.2% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 260.5 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 19.6 million was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. All of Greece's non-core contributions was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Eighty-nine per cent of Greece's total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to EU Institutions.

 

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The United Nations (UN) system received 3.8% of Greece's multilateral contributions, mostly through core contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 10.5 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Greece's support (core and earmarked contributions) were the WHO (USD 2.2 million), UNDPO-UN Peacekeeping operations (USD 1.9 million) and UNEP (USD 1.8 million).

 

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See the section Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, Greece's bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 100 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 40.2% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 21.9% of Greece's gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 73 million in 2022, an increase of 108.7% in real terms over 2021, and represented 73% of Greece's total gross bilateral ODA.

Greece disbursed USD 17.5 million for triangular co-operation in 2022. Its regional priority is Africa, with a focus on health. Learn more about triangular co-operation.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Greece channelled their bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector. Technical co-operation made up 0.5% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, international civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 100 thousand of gross bilateral ODA, all as core contributions. Greece has not provided support to and through CSOs since 2017. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, Greece's bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Africa. USD 16.8 million was allocated to Africa and USD 4 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 16.2% for Ukraine), accounting respectively for 16.8% and 4% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 2.9 million was allocated to Asia. Africa was also the main regional recipient of Greece's earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, mainly through the COVAX mechanism.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 24.1% of gross bilateral ODA went to Greece's top 10 recipients, for which support mainly consisted of vaccine donations. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 74.6%, of which 97.9% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, Greece allocated 0.02% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Greece allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (10.9%) to lower middle income countries in 2022, noting that 74.6% was unallocated by income group. Least developed countries (LDCs) received 9.3% of Greece' gross bilateral ODA (USD 9 million). Additionally, Greece allocated 9.6% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 9.6 million.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support to fragile contexts was USD 17.3 million in 2022, representing 17.3% of Greece's gross bilateral ODA. Two per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, decreasing from 6.3% in 2021. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, more than half of Greece's bilateral ODA was allocated to support refugees in donor countries (USD 73 million). Investments in ‘other’ macro sectors accounted for 75.8% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 74.1 million) covering support to refugees in donor countries, administrative costs of donors (USD 1 million) and unallocated or unspecified activities (USD 0.1 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 22.4 million, focusing on health and population (USD 20.2 million), accounting for 20.7% of gross bilateral ODA. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Greece had not provided bilateral ODA for health and population. Humanitarian amounted to USD 1.3 million (1.3% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused primarily on social sectors in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, Greece disbursed USD 20.1 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 28.1 million in 2021. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Greece provided USD 20.1 million in ODA for donations of doses to developing countries in 2022, down 28% from USD 28 million in 2021. All COVID-19 vaccines accounted for donations of doses from domestic supply in 2022.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, Greece committed 0.9% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women’s empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective (down from 22.1% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 0.3 million of bilateral ODA in support of gender equality. Unpacking the gender equality data further:

• The share of screened bilateral allocable aid committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 0.1% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• Greece includes gender equality objectives in 32.5% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• Greece screens virtually all their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2021-22).

• Greece committed USD 0 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 0 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements and government institutions in 2021-22.

Learn more about Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: DAC Guidance for Development Partners and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.

 

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Environment

In 2021-22, Greece committed low levels of total bilateral allocable aid (0.1%) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), as in 2019-20.

Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change [DAC/CHAIR(2021)1/FINAL].

 

Note: In this figure, the category climate includes climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation efforts.

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The OECD initiative Sustainable Oceans for All shows that Greece committed USD 0.2 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2022. The 2022 value is equivalent to 0.7% of Greece’s bilateral allocable aid.

Effectiveness of development co-operation

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation monitoring exercise tracks the implementation of the effectiveness commitments. Following the reform of the exercise over 2020-22, the 4th global monitoring round (2023-26) is underway. Information on partner countries' participation in the exercise as well as their progress is available at the Global Dashboard.

To help improve the transparency of development co-operation, the OECD provides regular feedback to members on the overall quality of their statistical reporting and works with each member to ensure the data meet high-quality standards before they are published. Regarding DAC/CRS reporting to the OECD, Greece's reporting in 2022 was on time, with some areas to improve in terms of the completeness and the accuracy of the data.

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors all official and officially supported resources for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. It provides a broad measure of development finance with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive. In 2022, activities reported by Greece as TOSSD totalled USD 375 million, up from 367 million USD in 2021, and Greece's TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels and SDG 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

In 2021, with the new Law (4781/2021) regulating the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ function, the status of the former Directorate General of International Development Cooperation-Hellenic Aid (YDAS) as an independent unit within the ministry shifted to that of a directorate-general of the ministry, becoming an integral part of it. The Directorate-General for Development and Humanitarian Aid (Hellenic Aid) is the national authority and the co-ordinating mechanism for planning and shaping Greece’s development co-operation strategy. It promotes, manages and implements the national development co-operation policy.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has 25 staff working on development co-operation, 16% of which are serving abroad.

 

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CSOs and private sector representatives engage with the government within the National Advisory Committee on Development Cooperation to shape the Hellenic development co-operation priorities and strategy.

Quality and oversight

Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of Greece’s development co-operation. Select features are shown in the table below.

Features of Greece’s systems for quality and oversight

Risk management	Greece is putting new financing procedures in place to strengthen procurement, risk management and due diligence mechanisms, mainly by reinforcing project screening, payment and auditing procedures.
Results management	Greece is developing internal processes and information and telecommunications systems to measure and report on the results of its development co-operation programme.
Evaluation	An evaluation unit was established in 2021 within the legal framework for Greece’s international development co‑operation.

Additional resources

2021 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Greece: DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/9

2019 OECD-DAC peer review of Greece: https://www.oecd.org/dac/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-greece-2019-9789264311893-en.htm

Directorate General of International Development Cooperation-Hellenic Aid: https://www.mfa.gr/en/the-ministry/structure/hellenic-aid.html

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1999.

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

Notes

← 1.  DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.

← 2.  Other providers also provide non-grants, which include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.