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 (USD 7.2 billion, preliminary data) decreased in 2025, representing 0.32% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on Canada’s development assistance allocations. 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. Global Affairs Canada’s 2025-2026 Departmental Plan identifies humanitarian assistance; peace and security; physical, social and economic well-being for the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly for women and girls; empowerment and rights for women and girls; and diverse partnerships and innovation as key priorities. 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.
Canada continues to pursue a multi‑track approach towards strategic engagement with multilateral partners, including bilateral meetings, high‑level dialogues, and regular participation in governing boards and executive committees. Canada advocates internationally for gender equality, the Peace and Security agenda, international law, and a more inclusive and resilient international development finance architecture.
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 transform these commitments into practice. The review found that Canada has fully or partially implemented all the recommendations from the 2018 Peer Review.
Discover insights from Canada’s 2025 Peer Review and learn from Canada’s practices in Development Co-operation Tools Insights Practices.
Canada provided USD 7.2 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2025 (USD 7.2 billion in constant terms), representing 0.32% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 2.3% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2024. This marks the second year of decrease in terms of volume in grant equivalent and the third in share of GNI after several years of increase. Unprecedented support to Ukraine and an increase of in-donor refugee costs in 2022 and 2023 explain recent trends. Canada is planning a 15% spending reduction over three years as part of a cross-government effort. 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 2024, 72.6% was provided in the form of grants, 24.1% was extended as loans and 3.3% in equity.
In 2025, Canada ranked 9th among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members in terms of ODA volume and 16th when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2024, Canada stood out for its support to Europe, being the fourth provider to the region. Canada was among the top DAC members in providing support to women’s rights organisations and movements (USD 57 million) and in terms of commitments to end violence against women and girls (USD 53.4 million).
Canada 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.
Canada provided most of its ODA bilaterally in 2024. Gross bilateral ODA was 83.1% of total ODA disbursements. Of this, 45.7% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, Canada provided USD 4.7 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 16.8% in real terms from 2023. Of this, USD 1.4 billion was core multilateral ODA (16.9% of total ODA), while USD 3.2 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 64.7% of Canada’s non‑core contributions, and 35.3% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds). The IMF is Canada’s main multilateral partner having received USD 1.8 billion in 2024.
The United Nations (UN) system received 25.5% of Canada’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 906.8 million (76.4%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 1.2 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Canada’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the World Food Programme (USD 184.5 million), the United Nations Children’s Fund (USD 157.6 million) and the United Nations Population Fund (USD 104.4 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, Canada’s bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 7.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 2.9% in real terms from 2023.
In 2024, country programmable aid amounted to USD 4.3 billion, or 61.7% of Canada’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 46.5%.
Canada’s in-donor refugee costs amounted to USD 1.7 billion (24.8% of gross bilateral ODA) in 2024, while humanitarian aid was USD 377.7 million, or 7% of gross bilateral ODA.
Canada disbursed USD 6.8 million for triangular co-operation in 2024 and Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy specifies triangular co-operation as one of its development co-operation modalities. Canada is a member of the Global Partnership Initiative (GPI) on Effective Triangular Co‑operation. Its regional priority is Africa, with a focus on government and civil society.
Learn more about triangular co-operation.
In 2024, Canada channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through multilateral organisations and public sector. Technical co-operation made up 7.8% of gross ODA in 2024.
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 999.2 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 8% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 1.5% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 12.7% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the provider (earmarked funding). From 2023 to 2024, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 15.1% to 14.2%.
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, Canada’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on ODA-eligible countries in Europe. USD 1.9 billion was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 94.6% for Ukraine) and USD 1.4 billion to countries in Africa, accounting respectively for 27.4% and 19.8% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 675.7 million was allocated to America. Europe was also the main regional recipient of Canada’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations. Following the Russian Federation’s aggression on Ukraine, Canada committed its ongoing and unwavering support for Ukraine, making it the largest recipient country for 2024.
In 2024, 37.8% of gross bilateral ODA went to Canada’s top 10 recipients. Six of the top 10 recipients are fragile and conflict affected contexts, in line with Canada’s commitment towards peace and security. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 42.9%, of which 57.8% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.
In 2024, Canada allocated 0.07% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Canada allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (32.5%) to lower middle-income countries in 2024, noting that 42.9% was unallocated by income group. LDCs received 14.3% of Canada’s gross bilateral ODA (USD 1 billion). Additionally, Canada allocated 7.2% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2024, equal to USD 509.8 million. Canada allocated 4.9% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2024, equal to USD 348.5 million.
The distribution of Canada’s ODA in net terms in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”2 was USD 1.7 in LDCs, USD 4.8 in lower middle-income countries (LMICs) and USD 6.6 in upper middle-income countries.
In 2025, Canada provided USD 3.6 billion of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s full-scale invasion, a 97.1% increase from 2024 in real terms. USD 24.3 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2025, a 4.9% increase in real terms from 2024.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 1.3 billion in 2024, representing 18.3% of Canada’s gross bilateral ODA. Of this ODA, 24.8% was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, a decrease from 37.4% in 2023, while 19.8% was allocated to peace, an increase from 15.2% in 2023. Conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, represented 7.8% of gross bilateral ODA, increasing from 4.1% in 2023.
Learn more about the States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest focus of Canada’s bilateral ODA was other macro sectors. Investments in this area accounted for 39.3% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 2.1 billion), with a strong focus on support to refugees in donor countries (USD 1.7 billion), administrative costs of donors (USD 369.4 million) and general budget support (USD 87.6 million). ODA for multi-sector totalled USD 2 billion, with the largest share unspecified. Social infrastructure and services amounted to USD 638.4 million (11.8% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on other macro sectors and social sectors in 2024.
In the period 2023-2024, Canada committed 48.3% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment compared to 77.2% in 2021-2022 and a DAC average of 48.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 1.9 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 7.8% in 2023-2024, compared with the DAC average of 4.2%.
Canada includes gender equality objectives in 98.2% of ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2023‑2024 DAC average of 21.5%.
Canada screens virtually all bilateral allocable ODA against the DAC gender equality policy marker (99.9% in 2023-2024).
Canada committed USD 57 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls, and USD 53.4 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 2023-2024, Canada committed 20.1% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 807 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, down from 30.7% in 2021-2022. The DAC average was 39%. In addition:
12.7% of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11.2%.
13.5% of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 541.5 million) focused on climate change overall (the DAC average was 35.4%), down from 17.2% in 2021-2022. Canada had a greater focus on adaptation (11%) than on mitigation (5.6%) in 2023-2024.
6.8% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 274.1 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the DAC average was 8.6%), up from 4.8% in 2021-2022.
1% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 40.7 million) focused on desertification overall (the DAC average was 4.2%), down from 2.9% 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 Canada committed USD 25.8 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2024, USD 72 million less than in 2023. The 2024 value is equivalent to 0.8% of Canada’s bilateral allocable ODA.
In 2024, Canada:
Allocated 5.4% of its bilateral ODA (USD 380.7 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, 0.2% of bilateral ODA (USD 15.6 million) went to social protection support. Learn more by exploring the Reducing poverty and inequalities through ODA data explainer.
Committed USD 49.4 million (1.5% 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, population policies/programmes and reproductive health, and government and civil society.
Committed USD 9.4 million (0.3% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Committed USD 3.7 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 nor does it make information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.
Committed USD 244.3 million (7.4% 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 Canada to developing countries amounted to USD 22.7 billion in net terms. Official sources accounted for USD 9 billion, while USD 13.7 billion originated from private sources.
To help build markets in developing countries and incentivise greater mobilisation of private resources for development, many providers, including Canada, have established development finance institutions and similar vehicles that extend private sector instruments (PSI). FinDev Canada, the Global Affairs Canada’s International Assistance Innovation Program (IAIP) and the International Climate Finance Program (ICFP) were assessed as ODA-eligible PSI vehicles. PSI represented 6.2% of Canada’s ODA in 2024 while the DAC average stood at 1.9%.
In 2024, FinDev Canada, the IAIP and the ICFP extended USD 785.2 million in the form of PSI to developing countries.3 Of this, loans accounted for 39.3% whereas equities accounted for 60.7%.
In 2024, USD 5.4 million (0.7%) of Canada’s private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs). By contrast, 33.2% was received by middle-income countries, notably upper middle-income countries (25.9%). USD 519.1 million was unallocated by income. Canada’s PSI primarily supported projects in the banking and financial services (35.5%) and energy (27.5%) sectors.
Canada uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2024, Global Affairs Canada mobilised USD 168 million from the private sector through direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles, shares in collective investment vehicles, guarantees and simple co-financing. This constituted a 46.9% decrease compared to 2023.
Private finance mobilised by Canada in 2023-2024 mainly targeted middle-income countries, representing 49.2% of its total mobilised. Only 10.1% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs), noting that 40.8% was unallocated by income.
Mobilised private finance by Canada in 2023-2024 related mainly to activities in banking and financial services (21.3%), as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 32.4% of Canada’s total mobilised private finance was for climate action.
Learn more by exploring the Mobilisation of private finance for development dashboard.
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 Canada as TOSSD totalled USD 10.8 billion, marking an 8% decrease compared with the previous year.4 Canada’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 1 (no poverty) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals).
Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
Global Affairs Canada (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 development finance institution, which finances and invests in the private sector in developing countries.
During fiscal year 2025-2026, 1 201 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. Thematic working groups, such as on civil society policy, humanitarian assistance and food security, are important mechanisms for consulting stakeholders. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education are co-ordinated under different umbrella organisations, including the Inter-Council Network and Cooperation Canada.
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. CRS: Creditor Reporting System; IATI: International Aid Transparency Initiative.
Internal systems and processes help ensure the delivery of Canada’s development co-operation. The table below highlights select features.
Access the full list of development co-operation providers at: Development Co-operation Profiles.
CSO umbrella organisation Cooperation Canada: https://cooperation.ca.
Global Affairs Canada (2025), Report to Parliament on the Government of Canada’s International Assistance 2023-2024, https://international.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/corporate/reports/international-assistance-report/report-2024.
Global Affairs Canada (2025), Departmental Results Report, 2024-2025: https://international.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/corporate/reports/departmental-results/global-affairs-2024-2025-departmental-results.
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.
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
The information in this document with reference to “Cyprus” relates to the southern part of the Island. There is no single authority representing both Turkish and Greek Cypriot people on the Island. Türkiye recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Until a lasting and equitable solution is found within the context of the United Nations, Türkiye shall preserve its position concerning the “Cyprus issue”.
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. 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 Canada.