- Policy
- ODA allocation overview
- ODA to and through the multilateral system
- Bilateral ODA
- Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA
- Private sector instruments
- Mobilised private finance
- Total Official Support for Sustainable Development
- Institutional set-up
- Quality and oversight
- Other profiles
- Additional resources
Development Co‑operation Profiles: Canada
Table of contents
Canada’s development co-operation seeks to eradicate poverty and build a more peaceful, inclusive and prosperous world. Canada believes promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls is the most effective approach to achieving this goal. It channels its bilateral official development assistance (ODA) mainly through multilateral organisations as earmarked funding and the public sector. Canada’s total ODA decreased in 2024 to USD 7.4 billion (preliminary data), representing 0.34% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy identifies gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as the core action area for Canada’s international assistance, cutting across all five of the other action areas of human dignity (health and nutrition, education, gender-responsive humanitarian action); growth that works for everyone; environment and climate action; inclusive governance; and peace and security. Canada’s Official Development Assistance Accountability Act puts the central focus on poverty reduction in a manner that is consistent with Canadian values and foreign policy, the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, sustainable development, democracy promotion, and international human rights standards. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is focused on improving how Canada delivers international assistance by making it more effective and locally led.
Canada continues to pursue a multi-track approach towards strategic engagement with multilateral partners, including bilateral meetings, strategic dialogues, and regular participation in governing boards and executive committees. Canada advocates internationally for gender equality and making the international development finance architecture more inclusive.
The 2025 OECD DAC Peer Review praised Canada for its commitment to gender equality and sustained support to women’s rights organisations and feminist movements. Canada also leverages its participation in multilateral fora, such as the G7 and the United Nations Economic and Social Council, to advocate for a reform of the financing architecture and the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) praised Canada for piloting new financing mechanisms. The review highlighted that while Canada is committed to development effectiveness and whole-of-society ownership, increasing flexibility in programming and continued decentralisation efforts would help put these commitments into practice. The review found that Canada has fully or partially implemented all the recommendations from the 2018 Peer Review. Canada’s 2025 DAC Peer Review will be published in mid-2025. Discover insights from Canada’s 2025 Peer Review and 2021 mid-term review, and learn from Canada’s practices in Development Co-operation Tools Insights Practices (TIPs).
Canada provided USD 7.4 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2024 (USD 7.3 billion in constant terms), representing 0.34% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 8.1% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2023. This decrease was mainly due to exceptional support to the International Development Association in 2023 and a decrease in humanitarian assistance, that was partly offset by increases in refugee support and FinDev Canada’s capitalisation. Canada’s ODA volume and its share of GNI have risen since 2020 but at a slower pace since 2022. Unprecedented support to Ukraine and an increase of in-donor refugee costs in 2022 and 2023 explain recent trends. The government has no specific plan to move towards the United Nations (UN) target of 0.7% ODA/GNI. Within Canada’s ODA portfolio in 2023, 73.1% was provided in the form of grants and 26.9% in the form of non-grants.2
In 2024, Canada ranked 8th among DAC members in terms of ODA volume and 15th among DAC member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2023, Canada stood out for its support to Europe, being the third provider to the region. Canada was among the top DAC members in providing support to women’s rights organisations and movements (USD 63.5 million) and in terms of commitments to end violence against women and girls (USD 65.3 million). It also provided 38% of its gross bilateral ODA disbursements to fragile contexts given to the humanitarian pillar of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.
Canada has committed to several international targets and DAC standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC Recommendations.
Note: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC Recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.
Canada provided most of its ODA bilaterally in 2023. Gross bilateral ODA was 78.5% of total ODA disbursements. Fifty per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2023, Canada provided USD 5.5 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 12.5% in real terms from 2022. Of this, USD 2 billion was core multilateral ODA (21.5% of total ODA), while USD 3.6 billion was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding, earmarked for a specific project, accounted for 58.1% of Canada’s non-core contributions and 41.9% was programmatic funding (to multilateral country plans, pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
The UN system received 23.5% of Canada’s contributions to multilateral organisations, mainly through earmarked contributions (USD 992.3 million; 76.6%). Out of a total volume of USD 1.3 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Canada’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the World Food Programme (USD 304.2 million), the United Nations Children’s Fund (USD 160.7 million) and the United Nations Development Programme (USD 97.6 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 dashboard on DAC members’ use of the multilateral system.
In 2023, Canada’s bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 7.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 2.4% in real terms from 2022.
In 2023, country programmable aid amounted to USD 2.3 billion, or 32.4% of Canada’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 43.1%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 1.7 billion in 2023, representing 23.6% of Canada’s gross bilateral ODA. This was an increase of 86.9% in real terms over 2022.
Canada disbursed USD 13.5 million for triangular co-operation in 2023 and is a member of the Global Partnership Initiative on Effective Triangular Co-operation. Learn more about triangular co-operation.
In 2023, Canada channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through multilateral organisations and the public sector. Technical co-operation made up 6.9% of gross ODA in 2023.
In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 1.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 8% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 1.4% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 13.7% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs increased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 14.9% to 15.1%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Canada’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on ODA-eligible countries in Europe. USD 2.1 billion was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 95.4% was for Ukraine) and USD 1.5 billion to countries in Africa, accounting respectively for 28.9% and 21.4% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 664.6 million was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East). Europe was also the main regional recipient of Canada’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations Following Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, Canada committed its ongoing and unwavering support for Ukraine, making it the largest recipient country for 2023.
In 2023, 38.5% of gross bilateral ODA went to Canada’s top 10 recipients, generally in line with Canada’s focus on fragile contexts. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 40.8%, of which 57.9% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.
In 2023, Canada allocated 0.10% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Canada allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (35.7%) to lower middle-income countries (LMICs) in 2023, noting that 40.8% was unallocated by income group. LDCs received 14.9% of Canada’s gross bilateral ODA (USD 1.1 billion). Additionally, Canada allocated 7.2% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2023, equal to USD 515.6 million.
Looking at the distribution of Canada’s ODA in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”,3 the amount was USD 2.8 in LDCs, USD 5.3 in LMICs and USD 8.7 in upper middle-income countries (UMICs).
In 2024, Canada provided USD 1.8 billion of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s full-scale invasion, an 8.5% decrease from 2023 in real terms. USD 20.7 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2024, a 26.3% decrease from 2023.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 1.4 billion in 2023, representing 19.8% of Canada’s gross bilateral ODA. Thirty-eight per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, an increase from 35.8% in 2022, while 15.2% was allocated to peace, an increase from 12.2% in 2022. Four per cent of gross bilateral ODA went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing a decrease from 4.1% in 2022. Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, more than half of Canada’s bilateral ODA was allocated to other macro sectors. Investments in this area accounted for 58.6% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 3.9 billion), with the largest share unallocated/unspecified (USD 1.8 billion), followed by cost of refugees in donor countries (USD 1.7 billion), and administrative costs of donors (USD 349.7 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 1.4 billion, with a focus on health and population (USD 534.1 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 494.1 million (7.4% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on other macro sectors and social sectors in 2023.
In the period 2022-23, Canada committed 59.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment, compared to 90% in 2020-214 and a 2022-23 DAC average of 45.8%. This is equal to USD 3.2 billion 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 7.3% in 2022-23, above the DAC average of 4%.
Canada includes gender equality objectives in 97.9% of ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2022‑23 DAC average of 19.1%.
Canada screens virtually all bilateral allocable ODA activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2022-23).
Canada committed USD 63.9 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 64 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements, and government institutions on average in 2022-23.
Learn more about 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 dashboard on DAC members’ development finance for gender equality.
Learn more about Canada’s effort to bridge the funding gap for women’s rights organisations through the Equality Fund.
In 2022-23, Canada committed 25.3% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 1.4 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, down from 31.4% in 2020-21. The DAC average was 39% in 2022-23. In addition:
Sixteen per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, above the DAC average of 9.6%.
Eighteen per cent of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 981.9 million) focused on climate change overall, up from 15.6% in 2020-21 (the DAC average was 34.8%). Canada had a greater focus on mitigation (14.6%) than on adaptation (10.6%) in 2022-23.
Six per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 262.4 million) focused on biodiversity overall, up from 3.6% in 2020-21 (the DAC average was 7.6%).
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.
The OECD’s tracking of ODA for the sustainable ocean economy shows that Canada committed USD 96.3 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2023, USD 35 million more than in 2022. The 2023 value is equivalent to 2.1% of Canada’s bilateral allocable ODA.
In 2023, Canada:
Allocated 8.1% of its bilateral ODA (USD 576.2 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) and development food aid. In addition, 0.2% of bilateral ODA (USD 13.5 million) went to social protection support.
Committed USD 288.9 million (6.2% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as health, population policies/programmes and reproductive health, and emergency response.
Committed USD 222.5 million (4.8% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Committed USD 4.4 million (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, Canada generally seeks 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 348.3 million (7.5% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2023.
To build markets in developing countries and incentivise greater mobilisation of private resources for development, many providers, including Canada, have established development finance institutions (DFIs) and similar vehicles that extend private sector instruments (PSI). FinDev Canada and Global Affairs Canada’s International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP) and International Climate Finance Program (ICFP) were assessed as ODA-eligible PSI vehicles. PSI represented 4.8% of Canada’s ODA in 2023 while the DAC average stood at 1.3%.
In 2023, Canada’s FinDev Canada and Global Affairs Canada’s IAIP and ICFP extended USD 442.7 million in the form of PSI to developing countries.5 Of this, loans accounted for 10.5% whereas equities (including reflow-based reimbursable grants) accounted for 89.3%. Other PSI included mezzanine finance instruments.
In 2023, USD 5.4 million (1.2%) of Canada’s PSI were allocated to the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs), with 15.3% received by middle-income countries, and UMICs in particular (8.5%). USD 369.4 million was unallocated by income. Canada’s PSI primarily supported projects in the energy (46.1%) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (23.9%) sectors.
Canada uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2023, Canada’s FinDev Canada and Global Affairs Canada mobilised USD 316.2 million from the private sector through direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles, simple co-financing, shares in collective investment vehicles, guarantees and syndicated loans. This constituted a significant increase compared to 2022.
Private finance mobilised by Canada in 2022-23 mainly targeted middle-income countries, representing 44.4% of its total mobilised. Only 12.4% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited the LDCs and other LICs, noting that 43.2% was unallocated by income.
Mobilised private finance by Canada in 2022-23 related mainly to activities in industry, mining and construction (25.5%) as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 26.2% of Canada’s total mobilised private finance was for climate action.
Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors and increases transparency of all official and officially supported resources for financing the SDGs in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. In 2023, activities reported by Canada as TOSSD totalled USD 11.5 billion, up from USD 10.6 billion in 2022. Canada’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 10 (reduced inequality) and SDG 3 (good health and well-being). Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
GAC leads Canada’s development co-operation efforts. It provides bilateral ODA, institutional support to multilateral organisations, humanitarian assistance, and support for security and stabilisation in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Finance Canada manages Canada’s relationship with the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and multilateral and bilateral debt relief. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the provinces and territories support refugees arriving in Canada. An additional 16 federal departments support development co‑operation. Two additional Crown corporations complement this set-up: the International Development Research Centre, which invests in knowledge, innovation and solutions to improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries; and FinDev Canada, the federal DFI, which finances and invests in the private sector in developing countries.
GAC is undertaking a reorganisation as well as a series of actions to support a highly skilled and diverse workforce to deliver Canada’s international assistance. During fiscal year 2023-24, 1 243 full-time equivalents supported the delivery of GAC’s Development, Peace and Security Programming.
In line with Canada’s Civil Society Partnerships for International Assistance Policy, GAC regularly consults and engages civil society stakeholders through formal and ad hoc mechanisms on sectors (e.g. health, education) and topics such as grants and contributions transformation, locally led development, and innovation. Important mechanisms for consulting stakeholders are thematic working groups, such as on civil society policy, humanitarian assistance and food security. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education are co-ordinated under different umbrella organisations such as the Inter-Council Network and Cooperation Canada.
Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of Canada’s development co-operation. Select features are shown in the table below.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Global Affairs Canada (2024), Report to Parliament on the Government of Canada’s International Assistance 2022-2023, https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/international-assistance-report-rapport-aide-internationale/index.aspx?lang=eng
Global Affairs Canada (2024), Departmental Results Report, 2023-2024: https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/departmental-results-reports-rapport-resultats-ministeriels/2023-2024.aspx?lang=eng
Government of Canada: Global issues and international assistance: https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/index.aspx?lang=eng
Government of Canada (2008), Official Development Assistance Accountability Act, S.C. 2008, c. 17.: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/O-2.8/FullText.html
Government of Canada: Statistical Report on International Assistance, Fiscal Year 2023-2024: https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/assets/pdfs/international-assistance-report-stat-rapport-aide-internationale/2023-2024-en.pdf
International Development Research Centre: https://www.idrc.ca/en
CSO umbrella organisation Cooperation Canada: https://cooperation.ca
Canada 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.
Note by the Republic of Türkiye
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Note by all the European Union Member States of the OECD and the European Union
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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. Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.
← 3. 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. 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. For more information on this indicator, please see here.
← 4. The use of the recommended minimum criteria for the marker by some members in recent years can result in lower levels of ODA reported as being focused on gender equality.
← 5. 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.