Development Co‑operation Profiles: Belgium
Table of contents
Belgium’s development co-operation prioritises least developed countries (LDCs) and fragile contexts, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on basic services, climate action and gender equality. It combines bilateral partnerships with a strong commitment to multilateralism and the European Union (EU). Belgium’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 2.7 billion, preliminary data) decreased in 2025, representing 0.37% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on Belgium’s development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Belgium’s development co-operation policy is set out in the 2013 Law on Development Co-operation, which identifies Belgium’s main policy priorities: equal access to basic services, including health, education, food security and social protection; climate change and environment; gender equality; support to civil society; and private sector development. Belgium’s bilateral co-operation is evolving in line with its focus on the LDCs, fragile contexts and humanitarian situations and currently prioritises partnerships with 14 partner countries: Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Rwanda, Senegal, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda. Recent policy statements of the new Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasise the importance of mutually beneficial partnerships and the promotion of global public goods.
Belgium is strongly committed to the European Union and the multilateral system and actively contributes to ongoing discussions on sustainable finance for development, including the role of international financial institutions in mobilising resources for climate action. Belgium’s commitment to global citizenship education reflects its focus on addressing global issues.
The 2023 OECD-DAC mid-term review praised Belgium for its focus on poverty and inequality and continued leadership as an advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights. Committed to the principles of partnership, the mid-term review found that Belgium empowers multilateral, civil society and private sector organisations to achieve their mandates while striving for increased coherence among channels of delivery. The mid-term review suggested that increased budget flexibility and continued attention to country ownership could increase impact in fragile contexts. The mid-term review noted that Belgium had made progress on six of the ten recommendations made in the 2020 Peer Review and limited progress on the remaining four.
Discover insights from Belgium’s 2020 Peer Review and 2023 mid-term review and learn from Belgium’s practices in Development Co-operation Tools Insights Practices (TIPS).
Belgium provided USD 2.7 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2025 (USD 2.5 billion in constant terms), representing 0.37% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 21.4% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2024. The decrease was due to a decline in its overall aid programme. Belgium is not in line with its domestic, international and EU commitments to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. ODA is set to decline in 2025-27 with the DGD’s ODA budget undergoing gradual reductions culminating in a 25% cut by 2027. Within Belgium’s ODA portfolio in 2024, 96.8% was provided in the form of grants and 3.2% was extended as loans.
In 2025, Belgium ranked 17th among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members in terms of ODA volume and 12th when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. Belgium stands out for its support to LDCs, with 26.8% of Belgium’s gross bilateral ODA committed to these countries, as well as its commitment to gender equality, with 81.1% of its screened bilateral allocable aid dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment as either a principal or significant objective, compared with the DAC average of 48.2%.
Belgium is committed to several international targets and DAC standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC Recommendations.
Notes: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.
Belgium provided a little over half of its ODA multilaterally in 2024. Gross bilateral ODA was 45.9% of total ODA disbursements. Of this, 15.5% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, Belgium provided USD 2 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 15.2% in real terms from 2023. Of this, USD 1.8 billion was core multilateral ODA (54.1% of total ODA), while USD 231 million 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 11.4% of Belgium’s non-core contributions, and 88.6% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds). The European institutions (USD 996 million) are Belgium’s main multilateral partner, followed by the World Bank (USD 519.9 million).
The United Nations (UN) system received 15.7% of Belgium’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 160.8 million (51.6%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 311.8 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Belgium’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (USD 50.3 million), the United Nations Development Programme (USD 44 million) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (USD 23.9 million).
See the section on Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system.
Learn more by exploring the DAC members’ use of the multilateral system dashboard.
In 2024, Belgium’s bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 1.5 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 4.3% in real terms from 2023.
In 2024, country programmable aid amounted to USD 244.1 million, or 16.4% of Belgium’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 46.5%.
Belgium’s in-donor refugee costs amounted to USD 472.8 million (31.7% of gross bilateral ODA) in 2024, while humanitarian aid was USD 193.4 million, or 13.1% of gross bilateral ODA.
In 2024, Belgium channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector and non-governmental organisations. Technical co-operation made up 0.4% of gross ODA in 2024.
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 296.3 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 1.2% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 15.7% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 4.1% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2023 to 2024, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 22.8% to 19.9%.
Learn more by reading the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid and by exploring the ODA to civil society organisations dashboard.
In 2024, Belgium’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on countries in Africa. USD 460.4 million was allocated to countries in Africa and USD 95.2 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 99.6% was for Ukraine), accounting respectively for 30.8% and 6.4% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 68.9 million was allocated to Middle East. Europe was also the main regional recipient of Belgium’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2024, 29% of gross bilateral ODA went to Belgium’s top 10 recipients. All except Ukraine are among its 14 priority partner countries. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 57.3%, of which 55.3% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.
In 2024, Belgium allocated 0.13% of its GNI (USD 872.6 million) to the LDCs. Belgium allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (26.8%) to least developed countries in 2024, noting that 57.3% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Belgium allocated 12.6% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2024, equal to USD 188.4 million.
The distribution of Belgium’s ODA in net terms in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”2 was USD 0.9 in LDCs, USD 1.8 in lower middle-income countries (LMICs) and USD 1.9 in upper middle-income countries.
In 2025, Belgium provided USD 65.7 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion, a 35.2% decrease from 2024 in real terms. USD 21.2 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2025, a 67% decrease in real terms from 2024.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 426.3 million in 2024, representing 28.6% of Belgium’s gross bilateral ODA. Of this ODA, 21.4% was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, a decrease from 28.7% in 2023, while 8.5% was allocated to peace, an increase from 6.5% in 2023. Conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, represented 1% of gross bilateral ODA, as in 2023.
Learn more about the States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest focus of Belgium’s bilateral ODA was other macro sectors. Investments in this area accounted for 43% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 633.8 million), with a strong focus on support to refugees in donor countries (USD 472.8 million), administrative costs of donors (USD 92.6 million) and unallocated (USD 41.5 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 381.3 million, with a focus on health and population (USD 124.6 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 193.4 million (13.1% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on social sectors and other macro sectors in 2024.
In the period 2023-2024, Belgium committed 81.1% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment compared to 66.7% in 2021-2022 and a DAC average of 48.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 570.4 million of screened bilateral allocable ODA in support of gender equality on average per year. In addition:
The share of screened bilateral allocable ODA committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 7.4% in 2023-2024, compared with the DAC average of 4.2%.
Belgium includes gender equality objectives in 79.3% of ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2023‑2024 DAC average of 21.5%.
Belgium screens the majority of bilateral allocable ODA against the DAC gender equality policy marker (74.6% in 2023-2024).
Belgium committed USD 8.8 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls, and USD 5.6 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements, and government institutions on average per year in 2023-2024.
Learn more by reading the DAC Recommendation on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation, and by exploring the development finance for gender equality dashboard.
In 2023-24, Belgium committed 45.6% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 430.1 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, up from 32.6% in 2021-2022. The DAC average was 39%. In addition:
20.2% of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11.2%.
34.9% of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 328.6 million) focused on climate change overall (the DAC average was 35.4%), up from 25.2% in 2021-22. Belgium had a greater focus on adaptation (45.5%) than on mitigation (36.7%) in 2023-24.
26.9% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 173.5 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the DAC average was 8.6%), up from 19.4% in 2021-2022.
15.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 100.5 million) focused on desertification overall (the DAC average was 4.2%), up from 9.5% in 2021-2022.
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
The OECD's tracking of ODA for the sustainable ocean economy shows that Belgium committed USD 4.9 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2024, USD 0.5 million less than in 2023. The 2024 value is equivalent to 0.6% of Belgium's bilateral allocable ODA.
In 2024, Belgium:
Allocated 6.4% of its bilateral ODA (USD 95.4 million) to core poverty-reducing sectors as defined by Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1.a.1. This indicator captures grants to basic social services (such as basic health and education, water supply and sanitation, multisector aid for basic social services) and development food aid. In addition, 2% of bilateral ODA (USD 29.1 million) went to social protection support. Learn more by exploring the Reducing poverty and inequalities through ODA data explainer.
Committed USD 186.9 million (20.7% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as emergency response, agriculture, forestry, fishing and health.
Committed USD 115.4 million (12.8% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Committed USD 500 000 (0.1% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries. Regarding the payment of local tax and customs duties for ODA-funded goods and services, Belgium does not seek exemptions nor does it make information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.
Committed USD 144.2 million (16.3% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2024. Learn more by exploring the Aid for Trade dashboard.
In 2024, total official and private flows from Belgium to developing countries amounted to USD 8.2 billion in net terms. Official sources accounted for USD 3.9 billion, while USD 4.3 billion originated from private sources.
To help build markets in developing countries and incentivise greater mobilisation of private resources for development, many providers, including Belgium, have established development finance institutions and similar vehicles that extend private sector instruments (PSI). The Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO) was assessed as an ODA-eligible PSI vehicle. PSI represented 0.8% of Belgium’s ODA in 2024 while the DAC average stood at 1.9%.
In 2024, Belgium’s BIO extended USD 147.8 million in the form of PSI to developing countries.3 Of this, loans accounted for 100%.
In 2024, USD 34.7 million (23.5%) of Belgium’s private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs). By contrast, 64.7% was received by middle-income countries, notably upper middle-income countries (52.4%). USD 17.4 million was unallocated by income. Belgium’s PSI primarily supported projects in the banking and financial services (74.2%) and energy (16.8%) sectors.
Belgium uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2024, Belgium’s BIO mobilised USD 59.5 million from the private sector through shares in collective investment vehicles, syndicated loans and direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles. This constituted a 27.7% decrease compared to 2023.
Private finance mobilised by Belgium in 2023-2024 mainly targeted middle-income countries, representing 66.3% of its total mobilised. Only 3.6% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs), noting that 30.1% was unallocated by income.
Mobilised private finance by Belgium in 2023-2024 related mainly to activities in industry, mining, construction (53.5%) as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 36.6% of Belgium’s total mobilised private finance was for climate action.
Learn more by exploring the Mobilisation of private finance for development dashboard.
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development placed a renewed emphasis on strengthening the effectiveness of all forms of development co-operation by upholding and elevating the Effectiveness Principles. Adherence to these principles is measured through the partner country-led monitoring exercise of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC).
Notes: The global aggregate results of the 4th GPEDC monitoring round (2023-2026) will be published in the forthcoming 2026 GPEDC Global Monitoring Report. Learn more about partner countries’ participation, progress and country-specific results by exploring the GPEDC Global Dashboard. Belgium’s results for the 2023-26 round are based on reporting in 5 countries. CRS: Creditor Reporting System; IATI: International Aid Transparency Initiative.
Total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors and increases the transparency of all official and officially supported resources for financing the SDGs received by developing countries (Pillar 1) and for addressing global challenges (Pillar 2). In 2024, activities reported by Belgium as TOSSD totalled USD 3.5 billion, marking an 8% increase compared with the previous year.4 Belgium’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals) and SDG 4 (quality education).
Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
The Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation is responsible for development co‑operation. It develops strategies according to political orientations and the legal framework, grants funding, and monitors the co-operation programme implemented by autonomous or independent partners. Some contributions to multilateral organisations are under the responsibility of other federal public services (such as Finance). The DGD finances and/or steers some of these contributions politically, such as contributions to the European Commission. Enabel, the Belgian development agency, implements Belgium’s governmental co-operation. Belgium’s development finance institution, BIO, invests directly in private sector projects in developing and emerging economies. Recent reforms included the preparation of a new management contract with BIO, a reorganisation of the DGD to increase coherence between Enabel and non-governmental actors, and the implementation of a new management contract with Enabel to increase partner country ownership.
The Directorate General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid has about 135 staff, 25% of whom are in embassies abroad. Enabel has about 2 369 staff, with a significant majority of 1 809 national staff, accounting for 76.4% of the total. The Brussels office employs 290 individuals, making up 12.2% of the workforce, while expatriates represent 270 staff members, or 11.7%.
Belgium’s whole-of-government co-ordination mechanisms are based on the mobilisation of task forces that bring together key federal departments – sometimes alongside external actors – around specific issues. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co‑ordinate through the following national platforms: Acodev, the Flemish Federation of NGOs; NGO Federatie, the Dutch speaking federation of NGOs; and Fiabel, the federation of institutional actors. In addition, two CSO-umbrella organisations, CNCD-11.11.11 (French speaking) and 11.11.11 (Dutch speaking), are responsible for advocacy, political mobilisation, public campaigns and citizen engagement.
Internal systems and processes help ensure the delivery of Belgium’s development co-operation. The table below highlights select features.
Access the full list of development co-operation providers at: Development Co-operation Profiles.
2023 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Belgium: https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/3/en/pdf.
2020 OECD-DAC Peer Review of Belgium: https://doi.org/10.1787/026f1aad-en.
Acodev, the Flemish Federation of NGOs: https://www.acodev.be.
Belgian Development Agency (Enabel): https://www.enabel.be.
Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO): https://www.bio-invest.be.
Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation: https://diplomatie.belgium.be/fr/politique/cooperation-au-developpement-et-aide-humanitaire/qui-sommes-nous/notre-organisation.
Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of Belgium: https://diplomatie.belgium.be/fr/politique/cooperation-developpement.
National Center for Cooperation and Development (CNCD-11.11.11): httpsB://www.cncd.be/?lang=fr.
Belgium has been a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1960.
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 ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
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← 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. Aid per person in extreme poverty is calculated by dividing net ODA (bilateral and imputed multilateral) by the population in extreme poverty in each country. It estimates how much ODA each person in extreme poverty would receive if total ODA was divided evenly among the extreme poor. This metric does not measure the amount of ODA actually received by each person in extreme poverty, nor does it measure how much ODA goes to poverty reduction. It instead highlights patterns in total ODA allocations relative to the number of people living in extreme poverty in each country. Group averages are calculated based on a weighted average of aid per person in extreme poverty and the number of people in extreme poverty for each country in the group. See the methodological notes for further details.
← 3. In 2023, the DAC agreed on revised reporting methods for measuring PSI in ODA based on ODA grant equivalents. Members may, however, take up to two years to transition to the new methods, with their PSI continuing to be accounted for on a net ODA basis during the transition period.
← 4. This amount does not include mobilised private finance by Belgium.