Development Co‑operation Profiles: European Union institutions
Table of contents
The European Union (EU) – EU institutions and member states together1 – accounts for the largest share of total official development assistance (ODA) among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members. It has a development co-operation presence in all regions and across all sectors. The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) manage funding among the EU institutions. The European External Action Service co-ordinates foreign policy. The EU institutions’ total ODA decreased in 2025 to USD 26.1 billion (preliminary data).
This profile presents verified data on the EU institutions’ development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
The European Union’s development and external action policy framework provides a legal mandate centred on poverty reduction and sustainable development. Anchored in the EU Treaties and the European Consensus on Development, and operationalised mainly through NDICI-Global Europe instrument, it prioritises social inclusion, climate action and migration, and forced displacement. The Global Gateway strategy seeks to align geopolitical and development considerations through investments in the digital, climate and energy, transport, health, and education and research sectors. The European Union is preparing the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034.
The European Union defends a rules-based multilateral system to achieve global prosperity. Acting as a strategic convenor within the United Nations, it champions these goals through its 2021 Joint Communication “Strengthening the EU’s contribution to rules-based multilateralism” and the Council Conclusions ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. The European Union is a leader in promoting policy coherence for sustainable development, including through mandatory impact assessments of EU regulations on developing countries, sustainability provisions in trade agreements and corporate sustainability rules.
The 2025 OECD-DAC Peer Review praised the EU institutions for their long-term predictable commitment to reducing poverty and inequality, their pragmatic approach to co-ordination through Team Europe, and their wide array of tools. The review recommended safeguarding concessional finance to least developed countries (LDCs) and contexts facing fragility and conflicts. The review also recommended strengthening information on the Global Gateway and ensuring investments prioritise poverty and inequality. The review stressed the importance of preserving attention to local private sector development. The Peer Review found that the European Union had fully or partially implemented 19 of the 20 recommendations of the 2018 Peer Review.
Discover insights from the European Union’s 2022 mid-term review, and learn from the European Union’s practices in Development Co-operation Tools Insights Practices.
The EU institutions provided USD 26.1 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2025 (USD 24.4 in constant terms).2 This was a decrease of 13.8% in real terms in volume from 2024. ODA volume has been increasing since 2022, partly explained by the unprecedented support to Ukraine. The EU institutions and member states have committed to collectively achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Within the EU institutions’ ODA portfolio in 2024, 52.9% was provided in the form of grants, 47.1% was extended as loans.
In 2025, the EU institutions ranked 3rd among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members in terms of ODA volume. The EU institutions provide almost exclusively bilateral aid and stand out for their high share of country programmable aid, which represented 83.9% of the EU’s gross bilateral ODA in 2024. They allocated to 58.9% of gross bilateral ODA to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 84.2% was for Ukraine). In 2024, the European Union’s top 10 recipients received 64.3% of gross bilateral disbursements.
The EU institutions 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.
The EU institutions provided all of their ODA bilaterally in 2024. Gross bilateral ODA was 100% of total ODA disbursements, while 16.1% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, the EU institutions provided USD 6.4 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, in the form of earmarked contributions, an increase of 2.1% in real terms from 2023. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 91.2% of the EU institutions’ non-core contributions, and 8.8% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds). To note that earmarked contributions to EU institutions mainly refer to EC and EDF funding to the EIB for specific programmes, funds, projects and technical assistance and could therefore be understood as a bilateral channel of delivery.
The United Nations (UN) system received 54.3% of the EU institutions’ contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 3.5 billion (99.9%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 3.5 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of the EU institutions’ support (core and earmarked contributions) were the United Nations Children’s Fund (USD 700.3 million), the World Food Programme (USD 515.3 million) and the International Organisation for Migration (USD 444 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, the EU institutions’ bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 39.6 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 3.9% in real terms from 2023.
In 2024, country programmable aid amounted to USD 33.3 billion, or 83.9% of the EU institutions’ gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average (excluding the EU institutions) of 46.5%.
The EU institutions’ humanitarian aid was USD 3.2 billion, or 7.4% of gross bilateral ODA.
The EU institutions disbursed USD 19.7 million for triangular co-operation in 2024 and have a strategy guiding their approach. The regional priority is Latin America and Caribbean, with a focus on general environment protection. Learn more about triangular co-operation.
In 2024, the EU institutions channelled their bilateral ODA mainly through public sector. Technical co-operation made up 6.3% of gross ODA in 2024.
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 2.6 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 15.8% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, CSOs did not receive any gross bilateral ODA as core contributions and 6.6% 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 6.8% to 6.6%.
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, the EU institutions’ bilateral ODA primarily focused on ODA-eligible countries in Europe. USD 23.3 billion was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 84.2% for Ukraine) and USD 7.5 billion to countries in Africa, accounting respectively for 58.9% and 18.9% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 2.5 billion was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East). Africa was also the main regional recipient of the EU institutions’ earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, in line with the overall policy priorities.
In 2024, 64.3% of gross bilateral ODA went to the EU institutions’ top 10 recipients. The top 10 recipients are mainly in their Eastern and Southern neighbourhood, in line with the focus on the immediate neighbourhood and policy priorities. Ukraine was by far the top recipient. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 16.1%.
The EU institutions allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (61.1%) to lower middle‑income countries in 2024, noting that 16.1% was unallocated by income group. LDCs received 10.5% of the EU institutions’ gross bilateral ODA (USD 4.2 billion). Additionally, the EU institutions allocated 6.9% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2024, equal to USD 2.7 billion.
The distribution of the EU institutions’ ODA in net terms in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”3 was USD 4.2 in LDCs, USD 40.1 in lower middle-income countries (LMICs) and USD 28.1 in upper middle-income countries.
In 2025, the EU institutions provided USD 34.6 billion of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion, a 65.2% increase from 2024 in real terms. USD 356.7 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2025, a 9.9% decrease in real terms from 2024.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 6.2 billion in 2024, representing 15.8% of the EU institutions’ gross bilateral ODA. Of this ODA, 30.5% was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, a decrease from 30.6% in 2023, while 17.3% was allocated to peace, a decrease from 17.9% in 2023. Conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, represented 6.3% of gross bilateral ODA, decreasing from 6.3% in 2023.
Learn more about the States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest focus of the EU institutions’ s bilateral ODA was general budget support (USD 19.7 billion). Administrative costs amounted to USD 1.1 billion). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 9.2 billion, with a focus on government and civil society (USD 4.4 billion). Economic infrastructure and services amounted to USD 4.9 billion (11.3% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on social sectors and economic sectors in 2024.
In the period 2023-2024, the EU institutions committed 60.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment compared to 58.8% in 2021-2022 and a DAC average of 48.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 12.9 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 2.3% in 2023-2024, compared with the DAC average of 4.2%.
The EU institutions include gender equality objectives in 9.9% of ODA for humanitarian aid, below the 2023-2024 DAC average of 21.5%.
The EU institutions screen all bilateral allocable ODA against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2023-2024).
The EU institutions committed USD 99.9 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls, and USD 106.9 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, the EU institutions committed 38.2% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 8.4 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, up from 33.4% in 2021‑2022. The DAC average was 39%. In addition:
13.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11.2%.
40.5% of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 7.5 billion) focused on climate change overall (the DAC average was 35.4%), up from 38% in 2021-2022. The EU institutions had a greater focus on mitigation (32.3%) than on adaptation (26.9%) in 2023-2024.
10.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 2.3 billion) focused on biodiversity overall (the DAC average was 8.6%), up from 7.2% in 2021-2022.
6.4% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 1.4 billion) focused on desertification overall (the DAC average was 4.2%), up from 4.6% 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 the EU institutions committed USD 532.8 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2024, USD 104.6 million more than in 2023. The 2024 value is equivalent to 2.4% of the EU institutions’ bilateral allocable ODA.
In 2024, the EU institutions:
Allocated 4.3% of bilateral ODA (USD 1.7 billion) 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, 1.8% of bilateral ODA (USD 716.9 million) went to social protection support. Learn more by exploring the Reducing poverty and inequalities through ODA data explainer.
Committed USD 871.2 million (3.9% of bilateral allocable ODA) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, government and civil society, and health.
Committed USD 7.5 billion (33% of bilateral allocable ODA) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Committed USD 16.1 million (0.1% of 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, the EU institutions generally seek exemptions. They do not have a general policy nor do they make information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.
Committed USD 7.4 billion (32.9% of 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.
To help build markets in developing countries and incentivise greater mobilisation of private resources for development, many providers, including the EU institutions, have established development finance institutions and similar vehicles that extend private sector instruments (PSI). The EU institutions do not count PSI in ODA.
In 2024, the EIB extended USD 140.4 million in the form of PSI to developing countries.4 Of this, equities accounted for 100%.
In 2024, USD 11.2 million (7.9%) of the EU institutions’ private sector instruments were allocated to the LMICs, with 11.5% received by middle-income countries. USD 124.3 million was unallocated by income. The EU institutions’ PSI primarily supported projects in the banking and financial services (80.6%) and energy (12.2%) sectors.
The EU institutions use leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2024, the EIB and the European Commission mobilised USD 6 billion from the private sector through shares in collective investment vehicles, syndicated loans, credit lines, guarantees, simple co-financing and direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles. This constituted a 6.3% decrease compared to 2023.
Private finance mobilised by the EU institutions in 2023-2024 mainly targeted middle-income countries, representing 37.7% of the total mobilised. Only 6.7% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs), noting that 55.6% was unallocated by income.
Mobilised private finance by the EU institutions in 2023-2024 related mainly to activities in energy (31.6%), as top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 45.5% of the EU institutions’ 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 the EU institutions as TOSSD totalled USD 62.3 billion, marking a 1% decrease compared with the previous year5. The EU institutions’ TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG 13 (climate action).
Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
The EU institutions are comprised of two main actors: the European Commission (responsible for managing the majority of funds) and the EIB. Within the European Commission, three Directorates-General (DGs) and several other services with an external-facing mandate are directly involved in development co‑operation, including one dealing with macro-financial assistance and one dealing with humanitarian assistance:
The Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) formulates the EU international co‑operation and development policy. It covers co‑operation with sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, as well as the Americas, the Caribbean, and overseas countries and territories.
The Directorate-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, resulting mainly from the restructuring of the former Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) and the current DG INTPA, is the Commission’s entry point for all countries in these three regions.
The Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood, also resulting from the restructuring of the former DG NEAR, takes forward EU policies for the Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood.
The Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs is responsible for macro-financial assistance to third countries.
The Service for Foreign Policy Instruments is responsible for the financial and operational components of EU foreign policy, focusing on crises, peace and security, in close co‑ordination with Commission services and the European External Action Service (EEAS). It is responsible for the peace, stability and conflict prevention thematic programme of NDICI-Global Europe, and the foreign policy needs and crisis response components of the rapid response pillar of this instrument.
The EEAS co‑ordinates the European Union’s foreign policy, participates in co‑operation programming and manages the EU delegations.
The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) is responsible for humanitarian assistance.
Other Directorate-Generals such as the Directorate-General for Trade, the Directorate-General for Climate Action, the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, the Directorate-General for Environment, and the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety also engage with third countries in their areas of expertise.
To co-ordinate their actions, all EU institutions as well as EU member states have signed “The New European Consensus on Development” and are working together as “Team Europe”.
DG INTPA has 3 600 staff, 1 250 (34.7%) of which are based in Brussels and 2 350 (65.3%) of which are in delegations in non-EU countries. DG ECHO has 900 staff, half of which are based in Brussels, with the other half in 45 offices abroad. DG NEAR has 1 500 staff. The EEAS has 2 000 (46.5%) staff in Brussels and 2 300 (53.5%) in EU delegations globally.
Public consultations on policy initiatives are a key mechanism for consulting stakeholders. The European Economic and Social Committee provides opinions on the European Union’s external relations. The Global Gateway Forum is a large regular forum that brings together stakeholders across the world to discuss challenges for sustainable and resilient global partnerships. The Global Gateway also includes platforms such as the Business Advisory Group and the Civil Society and Local Authorities Advisory Platform. CSOs active in development co‑operation and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body, CONCORD, and those for humanitarian assistance through the organisation VOICE.
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 the EU institutions’ development co-operation. The table below highlights select features.
Access the full list of development co-operation providers at: Development Co-operation Profiles.
2025 OECD-DAC Peer Review of the European Union: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-european-union-2025_7adcf387-en.html.
CSO umbrella organisation Concord – European Confederation of Relief and Development NGOs: https://concordeurope.org.
CSO umbrella organisation VOICE – Voluntary Organisations in Cooperation in Emergencies: https://voiceeu.org.
European Commission, Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood: https://commission.europa.eu/about/departments-and-executive-agencies/enlargement-and-eastern-neighbourhood_en.
European Commission, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations: https://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.
European Commission, Global Gateway: https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/policies/global-gateway_en.
European Commission, International Partnerships: https://ec.europa.eu/international-partnerships.
European Commission, Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf: https://commission.europa.eu/about/departments-and-executive-agencies/middle-east-north-africa-and-gulf_en.
European External Action Service: https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_en.
European Investment Bank (EIB): https://www.eib.org/en/index.htm.
The European Union has been a 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 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. This profile focuses on allocations by the EU institutions on the basis of contributions by EU Member States. Information about the EU Member States’ development co-operation policy, allocations and organisational structure is available in their individual profiles.
← 2. 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.
← 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. 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.
← 4. 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.
← 5. This amount does not include mobilised private finance by the EU institutions.
← 6. The European Investment Bank and four entities of the European Commission (DG Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, DG International Partnerships, DG Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, and the Foreign Policy Instruments Service) independently report to IATI. Therefore, the overall result for the EU Institutions for "Publishing to IATI" is calculated by averaging the scores of these five reporters, using the average spending reported by these reporters to IATI as weights.