Development Co‑operation Profiles: Luxembourg
Table of contents
Luxembourg’s development co-operation focuses on access to basic social services, humanitarian assistance and sustainable finance. Luxembourg is consistently among the most generous Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members relative to its gross national income (GNI), including in allocating official development assistance (ODA) to least developed countries (LDCs). Furthermore, in-donor refugee costs and climate finance are accounted for outside ODA to avoid a crowding out effect. In 2023, Luxembourg was the DAC member that allocated the highest share of GNI to LDCs. Luxembourg’s total OD) decreased in 2024 to USD 596.6 million (preliminary data), representing 1% of GNI.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Luxembourg’s Development Co-operation Strategy, “The Road to 2030”, prioritises four themes: 1) access to high-quality basic social services; 2) the socio-economic integration of women and young people; 3) inclusive and sustainable growth; and 4) inclusive governance. It focuses on a small number of partner countries, underpinned by indicative country programmes. As a result of the political decision to suspend bilateral co-operation in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, Luxembourg had to redirect about 30% of its bilateral commitments in 2024 via different channels and to other partner countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Road to 2030 affirms Luxembourg’s strong support for multilateral institutions. The United Nations (UN) system and the European Union (EU) are key partners. Luxembourg actively uses its role as an international financial centre to promote sustainable finance. Luxembourg has introduced a sustainability check for all new regulations to improve policy coherence for sustainable development. Luxembourg’s 2022 Humanitarian Action Strategy commits to allocating 15% of its overall bilateral ODA to humanitarian actions – a target that it has systematically surpassed in recent years.
The 2025 OECD-DAC Peer Review praised Luxembourg for its strong support to the poorest countries and the most vulnerable people and for allocating about 1% of GNI to ODA. The review stressed the need for a whole-of-government approach to address fragility and stronger internal co-ordination for multilateral partnerships. Finally, it recommended greater private sector engagement driven by the local private sector, and prioritising policy coherence, for example to ensure that financial sector activities align to sustainable development objectives. The Peer Review found that Luxembourg had fully or partially implemented 12 of the 13 recommendations of the 2017 Peer Review. Discover insights from Luxembourg’s 2025 Peer Review and 2020 mid-term review, and learn from Luxembourg's practices in Development Co-operation Tools Insights Practices (TIPs).
Luxembourg provided USD 596.6 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2024 (USD 578.8 million in constant terms), representing 1% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 0.3% real terms in volume and an increase in the share of GNI from 2023. Consistently providing around 1% of GNI as ODA, Luxembourg has exceeded the 0.7% UN target since 2000. Luxembourg is in line with its domestic (1%) and EU commitments to collectively achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. It provided all its ODA in the form of grants in 2023.2
Luxembourg ranks second among DAC member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. With 0.41% ODA/GNI committed to LDCs in 2023, Luxembourg surpasses the 0.2% UN target and is the leading DAC donor in this regard. In 2023, Luxembourg was the DAC member that allocated one of the highest shares of gross bilateral ODA to fragile contexts (44.3%), as well as one of the highest shares of bilateral ODA to Africa (42.9%). It mobilised a significant share of its ODA for technical co-operation (24.2%) and reported 100% of ODA to countries covered by the DAC Recommendation on Untying ODA as untied in 2022.
Luxembourg has committed to several international targets and DAC standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC Recommendations.
Note: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC Recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.
Luxembourg provided a higher share of its ODA bilaterally in 2023. Gross bilateral ODA was 73% of total ODA disbursements. Twenty-six per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2023, Luxembourg provided USD 267.7 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 1.8% in real terms from 2022. Of this, USD 157.4 million was core multilateral ODA (27% of total ODA), while USD 110.3 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 24.7% of Luxembourg’s non-core contributions and 75.3% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
The UN system received 55.8% of Luxembourg’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 90.3 million (60.4%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 149.4 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Luxembourg’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the World Food Programme (USD 21.5 million), the United Nations Development Programme (USD 18.9 million) and the United Nations Population Fund (USD 16 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 dashboard on DAC members’ use of the multilateral system.
In 2023, Luxembourg’s bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 425.8 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 6.8% in real terms from 2022.
In 2023, country programmable aid amounted to USD 228 million, or 53.6% of Luxembourg’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 43.1%. Luxembourg does not report in-donor refugee costs as ODA.
Luxembourg disbursed USD 0.2 million for triangular co-operation in 2023. Its regional priority is Asia, with a focus on banking and financial services. Learn more about triangular co-operation.
In 2023, Luxembourg channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and multilateral organisations. Technical co-operation made up 24.2% of gross ODA in 2023.
In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 119.6 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 2.4% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 3% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 25% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 30.2% to 28.1%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Luxembourg’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on countries in Africa. USD 182.7 million was allocated to countries in Africa and USD 56 million to Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting respectively for 42.9% and 13.2% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 29.8 million was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 58.8% was for Ukraine). Asia (excluding the Middle East) was also the main regional recipient of Luxembourg’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations. Allocations correspond to its policy priorities.
In 2023, 47.6% of gross bilateral ODA went to Luxembourg’s top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are all priority or project countries, plus Ukraine. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 34.1%.
In 2023, Luxembourg allocated 0.41% of its GNI to LDCs. Luxembourg allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (44.8%) to LDCs in 2023 (USD 190.9 million), noting that 34.1% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Luxembourg allocated 33.2% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2023, equal to USD 141.5 million. Luxembourg allocated 5.1% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states in 2023, equal to USD 21.6 million.
Looking at the distribution of Luxembourg’s ODA in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”,3 the amount was USD 0.3 in LDCs, USD 0.2 in lower middle-income countries and USD 0.4 in upper middle-income countries.
In 2024, Luxembourg provided USD 27.8 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of the Russia’s full-scale invasion, a 53.7% increase from 2023 in real terms. USD 5.1 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2024, a 45.6% decrease from 2023.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 188.6 million in 2023, representing 44.3% of Luxembourg’s gross bilateral ODA. Twenty-six per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, an increase from 24.7% in 2022, while 5.8% was allocated to peace, an increase from 4.9% in 2022. Less than 1% (0.3%) of gross bilateral ODA went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing a decrease from 0.4% in 2022. Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, the largest focus of Luxembourg’s bilateral ODA was social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 39.6% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 168.8 million), with a strong focus on support to education (USD 57.1 million), health and population (USD 46.6 million), and government and civil society (USD 31.7 million). ODA for humanitarian assistance totalled USD 100.8 million, with a focus on emergency response (USD 87.5 million). Other macro sectors amounted to USD 69.1 million (16.2% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on social sectors and other macro sectors in 2023.
In the period 2022-23, Luxembourg committed 34.8% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment, compared to 38.3% in 2020-214 and an 2022-23 DAC average of 45.8%. This is equal to USD 132 million 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 6.7% in 2022-23, compared with the DAC average of 4%.
Luxembourg includes gender equality objectives in 0.2% of ODA for humanitarian aid, below the 2022-23 DAC average of 19.1%.
Luxembourg screened all bilateral allocable ODA activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker in 2022-23.
Luxembourg committed USD 3.5 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 0.4 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements, and government institutions on average in 2022-23.
Learn more about 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 dashboard on DAC members’ development finance for gender equality.
In 2022-23, Luxembourg committed 27.8% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 105.5 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, up from 14.8% in 2020-21. The DAC average was 39% in 2022-23. In addition:
Four per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 9.6%.
Fourteen per cent of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 51.1 million) focused on climate change overall, up from 4.5% in 2020-21 (the DAC average was 34.8%). Luxembourg had a greater focus on adaptation (13.4%) than on mitigation (7.1%) in 2022-23.
Five per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 17.2 million) focused on biodiversity overall, up from 3.4% in 2020-21 (the DAC average was 7.6%).
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.
In 2023, Luxembourg:
Allocated 7% of its bilateral ODA (USD 29.8 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) and development food aid. In addition, 0.3% of bilateral ODA (USD 1.4 million) went to social protection support.
Committed USD 0.3 million (0.1% 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 1.2 million (0.3% 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, Luxembourg typically seeks tax and customs duty exemptions on its ODA-funded goods and services in partner countries and territories, although exceptions exist and it makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.
Committed USD 61.5 million (15.7% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2023.
Luxembourg uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2023, Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Co-operation and Foreign Trade (MFA) mobilised USD 22.7 million from the private sector through simple co-financing. This represents a 4.6% increase compared to 2022.
Private finance mobilised by Luxembourg in 2022-23 mainly targeted middle-income countries, representing 7.6% of its total mobilised. Only 11.6% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited the LDCs and other low-income countries, noting that 80.8% was unallocated by income.
Mobilised private finance by Luxembourg in 2022-23 related mainly to unallocated/unspecified (41.9%) activities as its top sector.
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 Luxembourg as TOSSD totalled USD 622.7 million. Luxembourg’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 1 (no poverty) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
Luxembourg’s development co-operation is comprised of the MFA, the implementing agency Lux‑Development (LuxDev) and the Ministry of Finance. The Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs at the MAE is responsible for designing and implementing Luxembourg’s development co-operation policy while the development co‑operation agency, LuxDev, executes around one-third of Luxembourg’s bilateral ODA on behalf of the state and implements programmes for DAC partners. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for multilateral initiatives with international financial institutions and leads work on sustainable finance. The Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity manages international climate financing. Luxembourg does not report the different government channels disbursing ODA.
The Directorate for Development Cooperation is the MFA’s largest department, with 59 staff. LuxDev employs approximately 62 staff in Luxembourg, plus technical assistants and locally employed staff in country offices.
The main mechanism for exchanging with stakeholders is the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Development Cooperation, which regularly associates civil society representatives, and a regular multi‑stakeholder conference, the “Assises de la Coopération”. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body Cercle de Coopération des ONGD.
Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of Luxembourg’s development co‑operation. Select features are shown in the table below.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
2025 OECD-DAC Peer Review of Luxembourg: https://doi.org/10.1787/3713cf73-en
2020 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Luxembourg: https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/13/en/pdf
Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs: https://cooperation.gouvernement.lu/en/cooperation-au-developpement.html
Luxembourg Development Agency (LuxDev): https://luxdev.lu/en/home
CSO umbrella organisation Le Cercle de Coopération des ONGD: https://cercle.lu
Luxembourg has been a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1992.
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. Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.
← 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. 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. For more information on this indicator, please see here.
← 4. The use of the recommended minimum criteria for the marker by some members in recent years can result in lower levels of ODA reported as being focused on gender equality.