Development Co‑operation Profiles

United Kingdom

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Introduction

In November 2023, the United Kingdom published its international co-operation white paper “International development in a contested world”. This followed significant changes to its development co-operation architecture and policy in 2020 with the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (EU). Among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members, the United Kingdom provides the highest share of private sector instruments to least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs). It also has a high share of bilateral ODA to fragile contexts. The United Kingdom’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 19.1 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2023, representing 0.58% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

The United Kingdom’s White Paper sets an agenda for working with partners to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a partnership approach founded on mutual respect. It also emphasises country ownership, accountability, transparency and common values. The white paper set the United Kingdom’s strategic goal of eliminating extreme poverty and tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, while using its ODA where most needed and effective. Focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable, the United Kingdom will aim to spend 50% of its bilateral ODA in the LDCs and will support the global goal of providing at least 0.2% of GNI to LDCs.

The United Kingdom’s White Paper sits within the Integrated Review and 2023 Integrated Review Refresh framework. The Refresh reiterates sustainable development as one of the United Kingdom's priorities and a key part of its coherent international approach. It set out how the United Kingdom would re-invigorate global SDG progress through work on seven specific initiatives between 2023 and 2024.

Poverty and inequality reduction focus

The United Kingdom’s International Development Act (2002) requires that development assistance (including ODA) provided under the Act is likely to contribute to reducing poverty and reducing gender-based inequalities. The 2023 White Paper on International Development reiterates the central strategic importance of poverty reduction for the United Kingdom’s ODA programme. Under this overall goal, one of the approaches the United Kingdom has undertaken is ensuring opportunities for all, which includes addressing different dimensions of horizontal inequalities, such as those based on gender, disability and sexual orientation. The United Kingdom has dedicated strategies for tackling gender-based inequalities and promoting disability inclusion. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has a range of tools to ensure a stronger focus on inclusion and equity in development interventions, such as its Gender and Social Inclusion analysis, its Value for Money framework, and its equality impact assessments. The FCDO also funds the Data & Evidence to End Extreme Poverty research programme to support the design and implementation of its policies, programmes and strategies to tackle extreme poverty.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The 2023 mid-term review found that the United Kingdom had made good progress on two of the ten recommendations made in the 2020 peer review and some progress against a further six. It found that recent institutional changes and the new international development white paper provide opportunities that enable the United Kingdom to play a leading role. However, it found that the benefits of an integrated development and diplomacy ministry have not yet been realised, capacity constraints persisted. The review suggests a greater focus on ODA quality and poverty reduction and stronger cross-governmental engagement and coherent policies would be important to deliver on the United Kingdom’s development aspirations. Learn more about the United Kingdom’s 2023 mid-term review [DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/17] and 2020 peer review.

ODA allocation overview

The United Kingdom provided USD 19.1 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 17.7 billion in constant terms) representing 0.58% of GNI.1 This was an increase of 12.1% in real terms in volume and an increase in the share of GNI from 2022 (0.51%). The United Kingdom's 2023 ODA proportion is in line with its stated objective to spend around 0.5% of GNI on ODA on a temporary basis. Still, it did not meet its target and international commitment to spend 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio. The United Kingdom aims to return to a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio when two fiscal tests are met on a sustainable basis.2 Within the United Kingdom's ODA portfolio in 2022, 99.2% was provided in the form of grants and 0.8% in the form of non-grants.3

In 2023, the United Kingdom ranked 5th in terms of ODA volume among DAC members and 9th among DAC member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2022, the United Kingdom had the second-highest share of bilateral ODA unallocated by country (60.8%). 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 when absolute volumes have not. Among DAC members, the United Kingdom provided the highest share of private sector instruments to LDCs and other LICs. It also had the highest percentage of gross bilateral ODA disbursements to fragile contexts given to the humanitarian pillar of the HDP Nexus. All of the United Kingdom's ODA to countries covered by the DAC Recommendation on Untying ODA was reported as untied in 2022.

 

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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The United Kingdom 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	0.50	0.51	0.58
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.14	0.08
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	100	100
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		96.2	99.5
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	97.4	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.

The United Kingdom provided a higher share of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 75.6% of total ODA disbursements. Eighteen per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). The United Kingdom allocated 24.4% of the total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, the United Kingdom provided USD 308.2 million (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia's war of aggression, a 32.4% decrease from 2022 in real terms. USD 166.6 million of the amount was allocated to humanitarian assistance, a 40% decrease from 2022.

 

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, the United Kingdom provided USD 6.1 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 23.3% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 3.9 billion was core multilateral ODA, while USD 2.2 billion was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 12.2% of the United Kingdom's non-core contributions, and 87.8% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Forty-nine point six per cent of the United Kingdom's total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to the UN system and EU Institutions.

 

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The UN system received 32.2% of the United Kingdom's multilateral contributions, of which USD 1.4 billion (70.3%) mainly through earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 2 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of the United Kingdom's support (core and earmarked contributions) were the WFP (USD 464.8 million), UNICEF (USD 259.7 million) and the WHO (USD 174.3 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, the United Kingdom's bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 12 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 27.9% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 19.9% of the United Kingdom's gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 4.5 billion in 2022, an increase of 233.5% in real terms over 2021, representing 37.8% of the United Kingdom's total gross bilateral ODA.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, the United Kingdom channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector and multilateral organisations. Technical co-operation made up 6.2% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 1.4 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 7.4% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 3.6% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 7.8% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2021 to 2022, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 14.8% to 11.4%. 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, the United Kingdom's bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Africa. USD 1.5 billion was allocated to Africa and USD 1 billion to Asia, accounting for 12.7% and 8.4% of gross bilateral ODA, respectively. USD 558.9 million was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 75.4% was allocated to Ukraine). Asia was also the main regional recipient of the United Kingdom's earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 14.1% of gross bilateral ODA went to the United Kingdom's top 10 recipients. In line with its policy priorities, its top 10 recipients are primarily focused on Asia and Africa, with Ukraine its second top recipient after Afghanistan in 2022. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 74.9%, of which 50.5% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, the United Kingdom allocated 0.08% of its GNI to the least developed countries. This is in line with the DAC country average of 0.08%. The United Kingdom allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (12.6%) to least developed countries in 2022, noting that 74.9% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, the United Kingdom allocated 8% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 966.6 million. The United Kingdom allocated 0.5% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2022, equal to USD 55.4 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 1.9 billion in 2022, representing 15.6% of the United Kingdom's gross bilateral ODA. Forty-five per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, increasing from 34.2% in 2021, while 14% was allocated to peace, increasing from 11.7% in 2021. Four point two per cent went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing a decrease from 6.1% 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, the largest focus of the United Kingdom's bilateral ODA was on activities that are unspecified/unallocated by sector, such as support to refugees in donor countries. Investments in this area accounted for 27.8% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 1.7 billion), with a strong focus on support to refugees in donor countries (USD 1.4 billion). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 1.8 billion, focusing on health and population (USD 853.3 million), which accounted for 14.2% of gross bilateral ODA and is a 48.7% decrease from 2019 in real terms. Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 862.7 million (14.4% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused on other sectors and humanitarian assistance in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, the United Kingdom disbursed USD 334.6 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 793.1 million in 2021. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, the United Kingdom provided USD 280.8 million in ODA for donations of doses to developing countries in 2022, up 109.3% from USD 134.1 million in 2021. All COVID-19 vaccines accounted for donations of doses from domestic supply in 2022.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, the United Kingdom committed 56.9% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women's empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective (down from 65.9% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 2.2 billion 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 8.9% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• The United Kingdom includes gender equality objectives in 73.6% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• The United Kingdom screens the majority of their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (94.3% in 2021-22).

• The United Kingdom committed USD 63.3 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 26.3 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, the United Kingdom committed 38.4% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.5 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), up from 29.1% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

• Twenty-eight per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11%.

• Thirty-five per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.4 billion) focused on climate change overall, up from 27.4% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). The United Kingdom had a greater focus on mitigation (31.8%) than on adaptation (21.1%) in 2021-22.

• Nine per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 288.3 million) focused on biodiversity overall, up from 4.5% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 7.2%).

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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Performance against environment and Rio Markers, 2021-2022

Marker	Constant 2022 USD million	% of bilateral allocable
Environment	1 502.6	50.5
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	288.3	8.5
Desertification	105.7	3.1
Climate change mitigation only	674.4	17.2
Climate change adaptation only	272.2	6.9
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	441.3	11.3

Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.

The OECD initiative Sustainable Oceans for All shows that the United Kingdom committed USD 44.7 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2022, USD 29.9 million less than in 2021. The 2022 value is equivalent to 1% of the United Kingdom's bilateral allocable aid.

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, the United Kingdom also:

• Committed USD 10.6 million of bilateral ODA to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries, amounting to 0.2% of its bilateral allocable aid. Regarding the payment of local tax and customs duties for ODA-funded goods and services, the United Kingdom did not generally seek exemptions. It does not have a general policy and it makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 907.5 million (19.9% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries' trade performance and integration into the world economy.

• Committed USD 614.5 million (13.5% of its bilateral allocable aid) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as emergency response, development food assistance and health.

• Committed USD 1.1 billion (24.8% of its bilateral allocable aid) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

Mobilised private finance

The United Kingdom uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2022, The United Kingdom's British International Investment (BII), the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the FSD Africa (FSDA), the FCDO, the Prosperity Fund and the UK-India Tech Start-up Fund together mobilised USD 2.5 billion from the private sector through direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles, shares in collective investment vehicles, simple co-financing and credit lines. This constituted a 17.6% increase compared to 2021.

 

Note: CIV: collective investment vehicle; SPV: special purpose vehicle.

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A share of 53.7% targeted middle-income countries, while 19.8% went to LDCs and other low LICs in 2021-22, noting that 26.5% was unallocated by income.

 

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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Mobilised private finance by the United Kingdom in 2021-22 related mainly to activities in energy (33.1%) as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 44.2% of the United Kingdom's total mobilised private finance was for climate action.

Private sector instruments

In 2022, British International Investment (BII) and other private sector investment vehicles, including programmes within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), extended USD 1.9 billion in the form of private sector instruments (PSI) to developing countries. Of this, loans accounted for 37.5%, whereas equities represented 61.2%. Other private sector instruments included subordinated loans, preferred equities and reimbursable grants.

 

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In 2022, USD 389.5 million (20.4%) of the United Kingdom's private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other LICs, while a majority (58.3%) went to middle-income countries and LMICs in particular (50.8%). Moreover, USD 407.9 million was unallocated by income. Over half of the United Kingdom's private sector instruments supported projects in banking and financial services (25.1%) and energy (23.5%).

 

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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. The United Kingdom's results from the 2016 and 2018 monitoring rounds can be found here.

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, the United Kingdom's reporting in 2022 was on time, with room to improve in terms of the completeness and 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 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 the United Kingdom as TOSSD totalled USD 18.3 billion, up from USD 17.6 billion in 2021. The United Kingdom's TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and 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. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

Since September 2020, the FCDO has managed the bulk of the United Kingdom’s ODA, following the merger with the Department for International Development. Under a dedicated whole-of-government approach, a number of departments are active in development co-operation and specific cross-government funds exist. The 2023 Integrated Review Refresh seeks to maximise the benefits of the merger of diplomacy and development into one department, notably with the Minister for International Development having a permanent place on the National Security Council, a new second Permanent Secretary in the FCDO to oversee development priorities and a new FCDO-HM Treasury governance structure to improve the oversight of all ODA spending. The International Development Committee in parliament continues to be responsible for scrutiny of UK aid and ODA expenditure, including by the FCDO, and taking forward the work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact.

The FCDO employs around 17 500 staff in its diplomatic and development offices worldwide. Roughly under half are UK-based civil servants, whose careers typically include roles both in the United Kingdom and overseas. Around half of them are employed locally in other countries.

 

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The United Kingdom draws upon the expertise of the private sector, civil society and academia to advise and challenge its implementation of the International Development Strategy. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body BOND.

Quality and oversight

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

Features of the United Kingdom’s systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	Independent bodies such as the Independent Committee for Aid Impact and the National Audit Office undertake robust reviews and performance audits, which are complementary and whose findings are acted upon and considered by ministers and senior management.
Risk management	Risk information is publicly available, regularly reviewed and discussed with partners. Systems are strong, but focused on compliance, which can discourage partners from pursuing risky or highly innovative proposals.
Innovation and adaptation	The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) invests in research and development, advancing behavioural science, and emerging technologies. Funded initiatives include the Global Innovation Fund; the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation Fund; the Environmental Pollution programme; the GSMA Innovation Fund For Climate, Resilience and Adaptation 2.0; the Frontier Tech Hub; and the Assistive Technology Impact Fund.
Results management	At the sector and portfolio level, the United Kingdom has a strong focus on outcomes, qualitative results and causal pathways to change while increasing its use of adaptive management. It has established a Results and Evidence eXchange REX to enable users to share and combine data more easily. The United Kingdom is also experimenting with new outcome-based financing modalities.
Evaluation	A central evaluation unit leads strategic evaluation activities and the quality assurance of evaluations, while geographical and sectoral departments are responsible for evaluating their programmes. Learn more about the United Kingdom’s evaluation system and Evaluation Strategy. A list of published evaluations of FCDO’s programmes can be found here. Visit the DAC Evaluation Resource Centre for evaluations of the United Kingdom’s development co-operation.
Knowledge management and learning	The FCDO has established a Development Faculty within the International Academy to help ensure the new department and HM Government continue to have the right skills and knowledge to deliver on development.
Communication and transparency	The FCDO follows the UK Government Communication Service Strategy, which sets general guidelines for government agencies and departments, aiming to build public trust in government communications and promote collaboration to tackle the country’s biggest challenges.

Additional resources

2020 OECD-DAC peer review of the United Kingdom: https://www.oecd.org/dac/peer-reviews/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-united-kingdom-2020-43b42243-en.htm

2023 OECD-DAC United Kingdom Mid-term review letter: DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/17

International development in a contested world: ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change, a white paper on international development: International development in a contested world: ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change, a white paper on international development - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Integrated Review Refresh 2023: Responding to a more contested and volatile world: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/integrated-review-refresh-2023-responding-to-a-more-contested-and-volatile-world

Foreign, Commonwealth & Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Development Office (FCDO): https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office

British International Investment (former CDC Group), the United Kingdom's development finance institute: https://www.bii.co.uk

CSO platform Bond: https://www.bond.org.uk

The United Kingdom's practices on the Development Co-operation TIPs: Tools Insights Practices learning platform: https://www.oecd.org/development-cooperation-learning?tag-key+partner=united+kingdom#search

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1961.

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.  The two fiscal tests are that, on a sustainable basis, the United Kingdom government is not borrowing to finance day-to-day spending, and that underlying debt is falling.

← 3.  Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.