Development Co‑operation Profiles: Germany
Table of contents
In 2025, Germany was the Development Assistance Committee’s (DAC) largest development co‑operation provider. Bilateral co-operation constitutes the bulk of Germany’s official development assistance (ODA), under the overall lead of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). At the same time, the Federal Foreign Office oversees humanitarian aid, crisis prevention, stabilisation and peacebuilding. Germany’s total ODA (USD 29.1 billion, preliminary data) decreased in 2025, representing 0.56% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on Germany’s development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
BMZ’s 2026 reform plan, Shaping the Future Globally Together, puts forward a differentiated approach whereby co-operation with emerging economies will be in the form of repayable loans while budget funds will mainly be deployed where they are truly needed, in the least developed countries (LDCs). Four overarching goals have been defined: 1) ending hunger, poverty and inequality; 2) peace and stability – promoting security over the long term; 3) facilitating economic co-operation for sustainable and equitable growth; and 4) strengthening strategic alliances for global solutions and the multilateral system.
In 2025, strategies were finalised on multilateral engagement and co-operation with civil society, as was a position paper on Quality Education for All. Other federal ministries have introduced key policies, such as the feminist foreign policy, accompanied by a feminist development policy, or Germany’s first National Security Strategy, providing anchor points to structure development co‑operation and signalling a robust and evolving development agenda. In 2023, Germany adopted its first-ever Strategy on Climate Foreign Policy, reiterating its existing climate finance target of EUR 6 billion annually by 2025. It also advocates for fair and sustainable globalisation, including in the G7 and G20.
The 2025 OECD-DAC mid-term review praised Germany for its emphasis on climate action, gender equality and multilateral engagement, alongside efforts to maintain and prioritise funding for reducing poverty and inequality. The review emphasised the continued importance of policy coherence and effective whole-of-government co-ordination, acknowledging the need for strategic prioritisation and resource allocation to mitigate the impacts of recent budget cuts and growing risks of misinformation that threaten to undermine public trust in development co-operation. The review found that Germany had made progress against all ten recommendations from its last full Peer Review in 2021, with good progress on recommendations on gender equality, poverty and inequality, and evaluation in particular.
Discover insights from Germany’s 2021 Peer Review and 2025 mid-term review, and learn from Germany’s practices in Development Co-operation Tools Insights Practices.
Germany provided USD 29.1 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2025 (USD 27.1 billion in constant terms), representing 0.56% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 17.4% 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, particularly humanitarian ODA and in-donor refugee costs. Germany first reached the 0.7% of GNI target in 2016. It exceeded the target every year from 2020, in line with domestic and EU commitments to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030, before falling below the target in 2024 and 2025. Within Germany’s ODA portfolio in 2024, 83.2% was provided in the form of grants, 16.3% was extended as loans and 0.5% in equity.
In 2025, Germany ranked 1st among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members in terms of ODA volume and 6th when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2024, Germany committed the highest volume of ODA for biodiversity (USD 2.5 billion) and gender equality policy markers (USD 13.5 billion), and it was the top ODA provider investing in combating violence against women (USD 114.3 million).
Germany 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.
Germany provided most of its ODA bilaterally in 2024. Gross bilateral ODA was 78% of total ODA disbursements. Of this, 15.3% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, Germany provided USD 12.6 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 42.4% in real terms from 2023. Of this, USD 8.2 billion was core multilateral ODA (22% of total ODA), while USD 4.4 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 72.1% of Germany’s non-core contributions, and 27.9% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds). European Union institutions (USD 4.9 billion) as well as UN funds and programmes (USD 3.6 billion) were Germany main multilateral partners.
The United Nations (UN) system received 28.8% of Germany’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 2.8 billion (76.4%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 3.6 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Germany’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the World Food Programme (USD 881.5 million), the United Nations Children’s Fund (USD 656.2 million) and the United Nations Development Programme (USD 380.9 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, Germany’s bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 29 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 4.6% in real terms from 2023.
In 2024, country programmable aid amounted to USD 12.8 billion, or 44.2% of Germany’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 46.5%.
Germany’s in-donor refugee costs amounted to USD 6.3 billion (21.6% of gross bilateral ODA) in 2024, while humanitarian aid was USD 1.8 billion, or 6.2% of gross bilateral ODA.
Germany disbursed USD 67.4 million for triangular co-operation in 2024 and has a strategy from 2022 guiding its approach to the modality. Germany is a member of the Global Partnership Initiative on Effective Triangular Co-operation. Its regional priority is Latin America and Caribbean, with a focus on health. Learn more about triangular co-operation.
In 2024, Germany channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector and multilateral organisations. Technical co-operation made up 18.7% of gross ODA in 2024.
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 2 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 2.7% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 1.7% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 5.2% 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 6.9% to 6.9%.
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, Germany’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on countries in Africa. USD 5.5 billion was allocated to countries in Africa and USD 4.3 billion to Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting respectively for 18.8% and 14.9% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 2.6 billion was allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean. Countries in Africa were also the main recipients of Germany’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations. This is in line with Germany’s Development Policy 2030, which designates Africa as the primary focus region as well as BMZ’s reform plan.
In 2024, 24% of gross bilateral ODA went to Germany’s top 10 recipients. All of Germany’s top 10 recipients are middle-income countries across all regions. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 51.6%, of which 41.8% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.
In 2024, Germany allocated 0.09% of its GNI to the LDCs. Germany allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (20.4%) to upper middle-income countries in 2024, noting that 51.6% was unallocated by income group. LDCs received 7.8% of Germany’s gross bilateral ODA (USD 2.3 billion). Additionally, Germany allocated 5.7% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2024, equal to USD 1.7 billion.
The distribution of Germany’s ODA in net terms in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”2 was USD 4.2 in LDCs, USD 14.1 in lower middle-income countries (LMICs) and USD 37.8 in upper middle-income countries.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 4.1 billion in 2024, representing 14% of Germany’s gross bilateral ODA. Of this ODA, 8.3% was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, a decrease from 19.3% in 2023, while 13.2% was allocated to peace, an increase from 11.8% in 2023. Conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, represented 6.4% of gross bilateral ODA, decreasing from 7.2% in 2023.
Learn more about the States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest focus of Germany’s bilateral ODA was social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 37.2% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 10.8 billion), with a strong focus on support to government and civil society (USD 3.7 billion), education (USD 3.3 billion) and water supply and sanitation (USD 1.5 billion). ODA for other macro sectors totalled USD 8.2 billion, with a focus on refugees in donor countries (USD 6.3 billion). Multi-sector amounted to USD 3.6 billion (12.3% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on social sectors and other macro sectors in 2024.
In the period 2023-2024, Germany committed 73% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment compared to 45.9% in 2021-2022 and a DAC average of 48.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 13.5 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 5.9% in 2023-2024, compared with the DAC average of 4.2%.
Germany includes gender equality objectives in 48.3% of ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2023-2024 DAC average of 21.5%.
Germany screens the majority of bilateral allocable ODA against the DAC gender equality policy marker (94.1% in 2023-2024).
Germany committed USD 114.3 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls, and USD 153.7 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, Germany committed 55.8% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 11 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, up from 45.2% in 2021-2022. The DAC average was 39%. In addition:
14.3% of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11.2%.
49.7% of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 9.8 billion) focused on climate change overall (the DAC average was 35.4%), up from 39.4% in 2021-2022. Germany had a greater focus on mitigation (39.1%) than on adaptation (27.4%) in 2023-2024.
13.8% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 2.5 billion) focused on biodiversity overall (the DAC average was 8.6%), up from 10.9% in 2021-2022.
5.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 993.1 million) focused on desertification overall (the DAC average was 4.2%), down from 6.9% 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 Germany committed USD 279.5 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2024, USD 195.2 million less than in 2023. The 2024 value is equivalent to 1.5% of Germany's bilateral allocable ODA.
In 2024, Germany:
Allocated 6% of its 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, 0.6% of bilateral ODA (USD 160.3 million) went to social protection support. Learn more by exploring the Reducing poverty and inequalities through ODA data explainer.
Committed USD 105 million (0.6% 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.
Committed USD 1.7 billion (9.3% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Committed USD 86 million (0.5% 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, Germany generally seeks exemptions. It makes this information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.
Committed USD 4.6 billion (24.8% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2024. Germany is among the top 10 official providers of aid for trade globally. Learn more by exploring the Aid for Trade dashboard.
In 2024, total official and private flows from Germany to developing countries amounted to USD 69.9 billion in net terms. Official sources accounted for USD 36.2 billion while USD 33.7 billion originated from private sources.
To help build markets in developing countries and incentivise greater mobilisation of private resources for development, many providers, including Germany, have established development finance institutions and similar vehicles that extend private sector instruments (PSI). The German Investment Corporation (DEG) and the Financial Cooperation under the Business Sector “KfW Entwicklungsbank” (KfW Development Bank) were assessed as ODA-eligible PSI vehicles. PSI represented 1.5% of Germany’s ODA in 2024 while the DAC average stood at 1.9%.
In 2024, DEG and KfW Development Bank extended USD 2.3 billion in the form of PSI to developing countries.3 Of this, loans accounted for 69.6% whereas equities accounted for 24.9%. Other private sector instruments included mezzanine finance instruments.
In 2024, USD 88.7 million (3.9%) of Germany’s private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs). By contrast, 67.5% was received by middle-income countries, notably upper middle-income countries (49.2%). USD 646.1 million was unallocated by income. Germany’s PSI primarily supported projects in the banking and financial services (55.5%) and business and other services (14.8%) sectors.
Germany uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2024, DEG, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the KfW banking group mobilised USD 2.4 billion from the private sector through direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles, credit lines, shares in collective investment vehicles, syndicated loans, guarantees and simple co-financing. This constituted a 53.1% increase compared to 2023.
Private finance mobilised by Germany in 2023-2024 mainly targeted middle-income countries, representing 62.1% of its total mobilised. Only 2.4% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs), noting that 35.6% was unallocated by income.
Mobilised private finance by Germany in 2023-2024 related mainly to activities in banking and financial services (38.8%), as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 41% of Germany’s total mobilised private finance was for climate action.
Learn more by exploring the Mobilisation of private finance for development dashboard.
BMZ co-ordinates Germany’s development co-operation policy and oversees a large part of its ODA. A number of other federal ministries also manage ODA resources, including the Federal Foreign Office, which oversees humanitarian assistance, crisis prevention, stabilisation and peacebuilding. Germany has two main implementing agencies: GIZ for technical co-operation and KfW for financial co‑operation, comprising KfW Development Bank and the DEG (development finance institution). A number of federal states and municipalities also provide development co-operation. A dedicated Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development provides parliamentary oversight. The Federal Court of Audit and the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) regularly assess aspects of German development co-operation.
BMZ has approximately 1 300 staff working on development co‐operation. This currently includes 134 staff abroad, out of which 116 are in German embassies and permanent missions. In addition, a number of Federal Foreign Office staff manage ODA funds, with the majority working in the Directorate General for Crisis Prevention, Stabilisation, Peace Building and Humanitarian Aid at headquarters, embassies and permanent representations worldwide. GIZ has approximately 8 600 international staff working on development, plus 17 000 locally hired staff. KfW has approximately 7 000 staff members, including staff serving abroad.
The Engagement Global agency provides advice to civil society, private sector actors, local authorities and individuals who want to engage in development co-operation. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body, VENRO.
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 Germany’s development co-operation. The table below shows select features.
Access the full list of development co-operation providers at: Development Co-operation Profiles.
2025 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Germany: https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD/DAC/AR(2025)3/1/en/pdf.
2021 OECD-DAC Peer Review of Germany: https://doi.org/10.1787/bb32a97d-en.
CSO platform Verband Entwicklungspolitik und humanitäre Hilfe (VENRO): https://venro.org.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH: https://www.giz.de/en/html/index.html.
Engagement Global (Service für Entwicklungsinitiativen): https://www.engagement-global.de/about-us.html.
Federal Foreign Office (AA): https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en.
Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ): https://www.bmz.de/en.
KfW Development Bank: https://www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de/International-financing/KfW-Entwicklungsbank.
Germany 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.
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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.