Development Co‑operation Profiles: Portugal
Table of contents
Portugal’s development co-operation is focused on providing expertise to Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and Timor-Leste. Portugal is a strong advocate for triangular development co-operation. Portugal’s official development assistance (ODA) is largely provided to multilateral organisations as a core contribution, with the largest share going to European Union (EU) institutions. Portugal’s total ODA (USD 571 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2025, representing 0.18% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on Portugal’s development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
The 2030 Portuguese Cooperation Strategy (English summary here) focuses on Portuguese-speaking countries. Thematic priorities are human development, governance, and climate and the environment, with gender equality as a cross-cutting priority. Through its peer-to-peer links, Portugal’s bilateral co-operation aims to strengthen institutional capacity in partner countries. Multiannual country strategies are agreed with partners at a high level and cover all forms of co‑operation with the Portuguese government. The strategy also encompasses humanitarian assistance and development education.
The European Union is Portugal’s main multilateral partner. Portugal advocates, in particular, for the EU partnership with Africa. It is closely engaged with the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and is active in partnerships with Ibero-America. Portugal plays a leadership role for triangular co-operation and promotes projects with Latin American and African countries. Other priorities include least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and protection of the ocean.
The 2022 OECD-DAC Peer Review praised Portugal for mobilising its whole-of-government expertise and its strong focus on partner country ownership. It also highlighted its effective international advocacy, notably on triangular co-operation and EU collaboration during its 2021 Presidency of the European Council. The review found that Portugal can make more out of its “decentralised” system of numerous institutions engaging in co-operation. It recommended improving cross-governmental co-ordination, strengthening bilateral alignment, focusing more on outcomes and taking action to increase ODA. Portugal submitted an internal management response to the review’s recommendations. The forthcoming 2026 mid‑term review will assess Portugal’s implementation of the ten recommendations of the 2022 Peer Review.
Learn more from Portugal’s practices in Development Co-operation Tools Insights Practices.
Portugal provided USD 571 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2025 (USD 528.1 million in constant terms), representing 0.18% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 19.3% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2024. ODA volume has increased overall over the past ten years, despite decreases in 2019, 2023 and a significant drop in 2025. Portugal has yet to reach its domestic and EU commitments to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Within Portugal’s ODA portfolio in 2024, 97.4% was provided in the form of grants and 2.6% was extended as loans.
In 2025, Portugal ranked 24th among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members in terms of ODA volume and 26th when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2024, among DAC countries, Portugal allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA to Africa (63.7%) and the highest share to fragile contexts (46.9%). Portugal was also among the top DAC members that channelled the highest share of ODA towards developing country-based civil society organisations (27.4%) and among the highest shares of total gross ODA as core contributions to multilaterals (64.7%).
Portugal 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.
Portugal provided most of its ODA multilaterally in 2024. Gross bilateral ODA was 36.6% of total ODA disbursements. Of this, 10.4% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, Portugal provided USD 488.7 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 36.1% in real terms from 2023. Of this, USD 470.3 million was core multilateral ODA (64.7% of total ODA), while USD 27.7 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 18% of Portugal’s non-core contributions, and 82% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
In 2024, top recipients of Portugal’s contribution to multilateral organisations were the EU institutions, the World Bank Group and the United Nations (UN) system. The UN system received 9.8% of Portugal’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 15 million (31.3%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 47.9 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Portugal’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (USD 12.6 million), UN Secretariat (USD 8.1 million) and UN Department of Peace Operations-UN Peacekeeping operations (USD 4.7 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, Portugal’s bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 266.4 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 8.9% in real terms from 2023.
In 2024, country programmable aid amounted to USD 118.1 million, or 44.3% of Portugal’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 46.5%.
Portugal’s in-donor refugee costs amounted to USD 23 million (8.6% of gross bilateral ODA) in 2024, while humanitarian aid was USD 6.2 million, or 3.1% of gross bilateral ODA.
Portugal disbursed USD 323 thousand for triangular co-operation in 2024. Its regional priority is Africa, with a focus on agriculture, forestry, fishing.
In 2024, Portugal channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector. Technical co-operation made up 9.8% of gross ODA in 2024.
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 17 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 27.4% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 0.1% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 6.3% 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 8.4% to 6.4%.
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, Portugal’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on countries in Africa. USD 169.7 million was allocated to countries in Africa and USD 18.2 million to America, accounting respectively for 63.7% and 6.8% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 18 million was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East). Countries in Europe were also the main regional recipient of Portugal’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2024, 77.6% of gross bilateral ODA went to Portugal’s top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are mostly Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa and Timor-Leste, in line with its policy priorities. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 18.2%, of which 47.4% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.
In 2024, Portugal allocated 0.03% of its GNI to the LDCs. Portugal allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (46.3%) to least developed countries in 2024, noting that 18.2% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Portugal allocated 1.2% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2024, equal to USD 3.1 million. Portugal allocated 30.4% of gross bilateral ODA to SIDS in 2024, equal to USD 80.9 million.
The distribution of Portugal’s ODA in net terms in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”2 was USD 0.1 in the LDCs, USD 0.6 in lower middle-income countries and USD 0.7 in upper middle-income countries.
In 2025, Portugal provided USD 13.3 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion, a 14.4% decrease from 2024 in real terms. USD 2.6 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2025, a 26.7% decrease in real terms from 2024.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 124.9 million in 2024, representing 46.9% of Portugal’s gross bilateral ODA. Of this ODA, 1.6% was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, a decrease from 5.9% in 2023, while 6.3% was allocated to peace, an increase from 3.8% in 2023. Conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, represented 4.1% of gross bilateral ODA, increasing from 2.2% in 2023.
Learn more about the States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, more than half of Portugal’s bilateral ODA was allocated to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 57.8% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 116.8 million), with a strong focus on support to education (USD 70.5 million), other social infrastructure and services (USD 16 million) and government and civil society (USD 13.6 million). ODA for other macro sectors totalled USD 64.9 million, with a focus on general budget support (USD 26.7 million). Multi-sector amounted to USD 6.5 million (3.2% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on social sectors and other macro sectors in 2024.
In the period 2023-2024, Portugal committed 34% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment compared to 31.6% in 2021-2022 and a DAC average of 48.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 58.1 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 1.7% in 2023-2024, compared with the DAC average of 4.2%.
Portugal includes gender equality objectives in 3.2% of ODA for humanitarian aid, below the 2023‑2024 DAC average of 21.5%.
Portugal screens virtually all bilateral allocable ODA against the DAC gender equality policy marker (99.3% in 2023-2024).
Portugal committed USD 100 thousand of ODA to end violence against women and girls, and USD 1.1 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, Portugal committed 10.7% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 18.4 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, up from 7.5% in 2021-2022. The DAC average was 39%. In addition:
4.4% of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11.2%.
5.5% of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 9.5 million) focused on climate change overall (the DAC average was 35.4%), up from 2.6% in 2021-2022. Portugal had a greater focus on adaptation (4.3%) than on mitigation (3.1%) in 2023-2024.
3.6% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 6.1 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the DAC average was 8.6%), up from 1.3% in 2021-2022.
0.9% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 1.5 million) focused on desertification overall (the DAC average was 4.2%), up from 0.4% 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 Portugal committed USD 1.5 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2024, USD 3.4 million less than in 2023. The 2024 value is equivalent to 1.1% of Portugal’s bilateral allocable ODA.
In 2024, Portugal:
Allocated 5.4% of its bilateral ODA (USD 14.3 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, multisector aid for basic social services) and development food aid. In addition, 0.6% of Portugal’s bilateral ODA (USD 1.6 million) went to social protection support. Learn more by exploring the Reducing poverty and inequalities through ODA data explainer.
Committed USD 6.5 million (4.6% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as other social infrastructure and services, health and agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
Committed USD 3.3 million (2.3% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Regarding the payment of local tax and customs duties for ODA-funded goods and services, Portugal does not have a general policy and makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.
Committed USD 7.8 million (5.5% 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.
In 2024, total official and private flows from Portugal to developing countries amounted to USD 909.2 million in net terms. Official sources accounted for USD 822.9 million while USD 86.3 million originated from private sources.
To help build markets in developing countries and incentivise greater mobilisation of private resources for development, many providers, including Portugal, have established development finance institutions and similar vehicles that extend private sector instruments (PSI). The Society for Development Finance (SOFID) and the Portuguese Investment Support Fund in Mozambique (InvestimoZ) were assessed as ODA-eligible PSI vehicles. Portugal does not account for its PSI in ODA3.
In 2024, SOFID and InvestimoZ extended USD 2.8 million in the form of PSI to developing countries.4 Of this, equities accounted for 100%.
In 2024, USD 2.8 million (100%) of Portugal’s private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other low-income countries. Portugal’s PSI supported projects in the industry, mining and construction (100%) sector.
Portugal uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2024, Portugal’s Camões-Institute for Cooperation and Language and SOFID mobilised USD 20.2 million from the private sector through direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles and guarantees. This constituted a ten-times increase compared to 2023.
Private finance mobilised by Portugal in 2023-2024 mainly targeted the LDCs and low-income countries, representing 99.8% of its total mobilised. Only 0.2% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited middle-income countries.
Mobilised private finance by Portugal in 2023-2024 related mainly to activities in industry, mining, construction (98.2%), as its top sector. Over this period, no private finance was mobilised 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 Portugal as TOSSD totalled USD 903.9 million, marking a 38% increase compared with the previous year.5 Portugal’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure).
Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
Portugal describes its development co-operation system as “decentralised”, reflecting the engagement of many ministries, public and non-governmental institutions. The development co-operation agency Camões I.P. (also responsible for language and culture promotion) is responsible for the overall co‑ordination of Portuguese co-operation. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, it also leads engagement with the European Union and multilateral organisations. It directly implements some bilateral programmes and delegated co-operation on behalf of the European Union. Camões I.P.-led co‑operation centres in key partner countries co-ordinate co-operation and are gradually gaining greater decision-making authority.
Around 400 staff work on development co-operation in the Portuguese system, more than half of which are in Camões I.P. and 57 are abroad.
An important mechanism for consulting stakeholders is the Development Co-operation Forum, which in addition to an annual meeting, plans to establish thematic working groups. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co‑ordinate through the umbrella body, the Plataforma Portuguesa das Organizações Não-Governamentais para o Desenvolvimento.
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 Portugal’s development co-operation. The table below highlights select features.
Access the full list of providers at: Development Co-operation Profiles.
2022 OECD-DAC Peer Review of Portugal: https://doi.org/10.1787/550fb40e-en.
Banco Português de Fomento (BPF), Portugal’s promotion bank and development finance institution: https://www.bpfomento.pt/en.
Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, IP: https://www.instituto-camoes.pt/en.
CSO umbrella organisation Plataforma: https://www.plataformaongd.pt/english.
Portugal has been a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1960/1991.
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.
← 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. Considering 2018 reporting on SOFID’s capitalisation, Portugal does not currently account its PSI in ODA.
← 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 Portugal.