Development Co‑operation Profiles: Israel
Table of contents
Israel launched its official international development co-operation programme in 1958 to share the expertise and technologies driving its own rapid development with developing countries. Development co-operation is led and implemented by Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV), a division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most of Israel’s aid is allocated through government channels to capacity building and humanitarian assistance worldwide. Israel’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 324.2 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2024, representing 0.06% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Israel’s development policy is closely linked to and aligned with its foreign policy, including its commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In its development co-operation programming, Israel prioritises capacity building and tailor-made programmes, focusing on priority sectors where it considers its expertise can add the greatest value – such as agriculture, water, health, innovation, education and promoting gender equality – in developing countries around the world.
Israel’s development co-operation is mainly delivered through bilateral channels through the work and engagement of MASHAV, emphasising capacity building and investing in innovative solutions responding to the challenges presented by climate change. The agency’s programmes are based on technical assistance and the transfer of accumulated Israeli know-how, technologies and expertise through consultancies, capacity-building and training activities, which are conducted both in Israel and in partner countries. Israel also has years of experience in triangular development co-operation in a variety of sectors, including agriculture and education.
Israel provided USD 324.2 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2024 (USD 309.4 million in constant terms) representing 0.06% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 33.4% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2023. Israel is not in line with its international commitment to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio. Total ODA on a grant-equivalent basis has the same value as net ODA under the cash-flow methodology used in the past, as Israel provides only grants.
Note: This table only includes information about official development assistance (ODA) data-related DAC recommendations. GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.
Israel provided the majority of its ODA bilaterally in 2023. Gross bilateral ODA was 90.9% of total ODA disbursements.
In 2023, Israel provided USD 42.2 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 5.5% in real terms from 2022. All of this was core multilateral ODA (9.1% of total ODA).
The United Nations (UN) system received 42.3% of Israel’s contributions to multilateral organisations, none of which represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 17.9 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Israel’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the UN Secretariat (USD 7.9 million), UNDPO-UN Peacekeeping operations (USD 3.5 million) and the World Health Organization (USD 2.6 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.
In 2023, Israel’s bilateral spending decreased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 422.2 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 0.6% in real terms from 2022.
In 2023, country programmable aid amounted to USD 139.4 million, or 33% of Israel’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the non-DAC country average of 37.7%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 190.8 million in 2023, representing 45.2% of Israel’s gross bilateral ODA. This was an increase of 2.5% in real terms over 2022.
In 2023, Israel channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector, followed by universities, research institutes and think tanks.
In 2023, Israel’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. USD 108.3 million was allocated to the Middle East and USD 34.1 million to Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting respectively for 25.6% and 8.1% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 21.3 million was allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean. Countries in Africa and ODA-eligible countries in Europe were also among the recipients of Israel’s development co-operation.
In 2023, 40.3% of gross bilateral ODA went to Israel’s top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are in the Middle East, Europe, South and East Asia, and Latin America. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 56.2%, of which 80.4% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.
In 2023, Israel allocated 24.3% of its gross bilateral ODA to upper middle-income countries, noting that 56.2% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Israel allocated 1.9% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2023, equal to 7.9 USD million. Israel allocated 0.1% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states in 2023, equal to USD 0.2 million.
In 2024, Israel provided USD 6.8 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s full-scale invasion, a 14.9% decrease from 2023 in real terms. USD 2.7 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2024, a 187.9% increase from 2023.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 50.9 million in 2023, representing 12.1% of Israel’s gross bilateral ODA.
In 2023, the largest focus of Israel’s bilateral ODA was macro sectors, primarily in the area of support to refugees in donor countries (USD 190.8 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 159.8 million, with a focus on water supply and sanitation (USD 92.6 million). Multi-sector amounted to USD 20.5 million (4.9% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused also on social sectors and economic sectors in 2023.
In 2023, Israel also:
Allocated 25.5% of its bilateral ODA (USD 107.6 million) to core poverty-reducing sectors as defined by Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1.a.1, which captures grants to basic social services (basic health and education, water supply and sanitation, multisector aid for basic social services) and development food aid.
Committed USD 13.9 million (6.5% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2023.
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 Israel as TOSSD totalled USD 488.2 million, down from USD 506.4 million in 2022. Israel’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals) and SDG 1 (no poverty). Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, a division within the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, plans, implements and co-ordinates Israel’s development co-operation.
Already since 1994, MASHAV has used a regulated system of external professional assessment to review the accumulated impact of its capacity-building activities, as well as other aspects of its active engagement in sustainable development.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV): https://mashav.mfa.gov.il
MASHAV Annual Activity Report 2024: https://mashav.mfa.gov.il/sites/default/files/2025-04/MASHAV%20Activity%20Report%202024.pdf
Israel became a member of the OECD in 2010 but is not a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC).
Israel has been reporting to the OECD since 1997 at aggregate level and at activity level since 2023 on 2022 activities.
Israel is an Adherent to the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Environmental Assessment of Development Assistance Projects and Programmes; the OECD Recommendation of the Council for Development Co-operation Actors on Managing the Risk of Corruption; the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas; the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development; the OECD Declaration on Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Development Co-operation; and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Learn more about OECD legal instruments and DAC Recommendations.
Israel participated in the 2025 DAC High Level Meeting.
Israel was as an observer in the DAC Peer Review of Finland in 2017.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
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← 1. DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.