Development Co‑operation Profiles: Kuwait
Table of contents
As a fundamental and long-standing pillar of its foreign policy, Kuwait provides international co-operation through technical and financial support to developing countries. Kuwait provides development co-operation in pursuance of its commitment to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and within the context of its Vision 2035. Kuwait’s international development co-operation’s objective is to support and assist Arab states and developing countries to develop their economies, promote co-operation and friendship. Kuwait’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 217.6 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2025, representing 0.11% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on Kuwait’s development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) operates within the policy framework of Kuwait’s national development strategy. Its activities are designed to support humanitarian and development initiatives launched by the government of Kuwait under Vision 2035. Vision 2035 aims to transform Kuwait into a regional financial and trade hub and strengthen its international economic role. In this context, KFAED contributes by financing development projects and providing concessional loans and grants to developing countries. Kuwait’s development projects target various sectors, notably agriculture and irrigation, transport and communications, energy, industry, and water and sanitation. Most of Kuwait’s international development operations have been geared towards assisting partner countries in achieving the SDGs, with a focus on eradicating poverty and ending hunger to achieve food security globally.
Kuwait provided USD 217.6 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2025 (USD 206.8 million in constant terms), representing 0.11% of GNI. This was a decrease of 20.3% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2024. Kuwait is not in line with the international commitment to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio. Within Kuwait’s ODA portfolio in 2024, 14.9% was provided in the form of grants and 85.1% was extended as loans.
Kuwait channels the majority of its ODA bilaterally, allocated primarily to Africa and the Middle East. In 2024, Kuwait had a high percentage of bilateral allocable ODA commitments to the policy objective of aid-for-trade.
Notes: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.
Kuwait provided the majority of its ODA bilaterally in 2024. Gross bilateral ODA was 89.7% of total ODA disbursements. Of this, 16.4% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, Kuwait provided USD 133.9 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 145.5% in real terms from 2023.Of this, USD 55.1 million was core multilateral ODA (10.3% of total ODA), while USD 78.9 million 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 98.4% of Kuwait’s non-core contributions, and 1.6% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific‑purpose programmes and funds).
The United Nations (UN) system received 13.3% of Kuwait’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 1.2 million (7%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 17.8 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Kuwait’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the International Fund for Agricultural Development (USD 10.9 million), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (USD 5.7 million) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (USD 1.2 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 2024, Kuwait’s bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 480.4 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 589.8% in real terms from 2023.
In 2024, country programmable aid amounted to USD 458.8 million, or 95.5% of Kuwait’s gross bilateral ODA.
In 2024, Kuwait channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector.
In 2024, Kuwait’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on countries in Africa and the Middle East. USD 175.9 million was allocated to countries in Africa and USD 170.8 million to the Middle East, accounting respectively for 36.6% and 35.6% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 94.4 million was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East). The Middle East was also the main regional recipient of Kuwait’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2024, 75.7% of gross bilateral ODA went to Kuwait’s top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are many in the Middle East. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 0.4%.
In 2024, Kuwait allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (46.2%) to lower middle-income countries in 2024, noting that 0.4% was unallocated by income group. LDCs received 13.4% of Kuwait’s gross bilateral ODA (USD 64.2 million). Additionally, Kuwait allocated 5.8% of gross bilateral ODA to land‑locked developing countries in 2024, equal to USD 27.8 million. Kuwait allocated 13.1% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2024, equal to USD 63 million.
The distribution of Kuwait’s ODA in net terms in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”1 was 0.1 in lower middle-income countries (LMICs) and USD 1.9 in upper middle-income countries.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 201.6 million in 2024, representing 42% of Kuwait’s gross bilateral ODA. Of this ODA, 5.1% was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, a decrease from 12% in 2023, while 1% was allocated to peace, an increase from 0.6% in 2023. Learn more about the States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, more than half of Kuwait’s bilateral ODA was allocated to economic infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 78.6% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 245.2 million), with a strong focus on support to energy (USD 155.5 million) and transport and storage (USD 89.7 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 59.4 million, with a focus on water supply and sanitation (USD 47.3 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 7.5 million (2.4% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on economic sectors and social sectors in 2024.
In 2024, Kuwait committed USD 245.2 million (78.6% 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.
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 Kuwait as TOSSD totalled USD 535.4 million, marking a 366% increase compared with the previous year. Kuwait’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy). Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
Kuwait’s Law No. 35 of 1961 created the legal basis for KFAED to act as an implementing agency in all developing countries on behalf of the Kuwaiti government. KFAED was the first fund to be established in the Arab world. Initially an institution for development co‑operation with other countries in the Arab region, it has developed into a global provider. KFAED acts under the overall supervision of the Prime Minister. Since 2003, KFAED’s mandate has been transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It primarily provides concessional loans and co-finances projects, guarantees and technical assistance to support high-priority development projects in partner countries, based on a demand-driven approach. Other ministries, public authorities and non-governmental organisations also promote international development, notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which can also provide humanitarian assistance.
Access the full list of development co-operation providers at: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Kuwait Vision for 2035: https://www.mofa.gov.kw/en/pages/kuwait-vision-2035.
Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development: https://www.kuwait-fund.org/en/web/kfund.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait: https://aid.mofa.gov.kw.
Kuwait has been a Participant of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 2018.
Kuwait has been reporting to the OECD since 1970 and reporting activity-level data since 2011 on 2010 activities.
Kuwait participated in the 2023 DAC High Level Meeting and in the 2024 Arab-DAC Dialogue.
Kuwait is an Adherent to the Protocol amending the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Learn more about OECD legal instruments and DAC Recommendations.
KFAED is a member of the Arab Coordination Group. In this context, it participates in regular Arab-DAC Dialogues.
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.
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← 1. 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.