Development Co‑operation Profiles: Qatar
Table of contents
Qatar’s development co-operation and humanitarian assistance align with its National Vision 2030 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, demonstrating the state’s commitment to international development and global solidarity. The country aims to position itself as a key global partner in international co-operation, upholding development effectiveness and humanitarian principles to ensure co-ordinated, sustainable and impactful assistance while maintaining flexibility to respond to humanitarian crises and emerging global challenges. Qatar’s official development assistance (ODA) is estimated at USD 656.3 million (preliminary data) in 2024, representing 0.32% of its gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Qatar’s ODA is primarily administered through the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), a government entity that provides grants, concessional loans, guarantees, impact investments and innovative development finance that generates additional financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Aligning its objectives with Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy for 2024-2030, the QFFD supports sustainable, multisectoral solutions that aim to drive economic growth, social well-being and environmental sustainability through innovative and high-impact interventions. The QFFD promotes economic development through private sector development, sustainable infrastructure and employment generation; strengthens health systems and access to quality care for all; supports food security through climate-smart agriculture and nutrition; advances education and skills development; and improves access to renewable energies. Additionally, the QFFD delivers humanitarian assistance in response to international crises.
The QFFD collaborates with multilateral organisations, in particular the United Nations (UN) and multilateral development banks, bilateral partners, the private sector, and civil society organisations (CSOs).
Qatar provided USD 656.3 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2024 (USD 642.3 million in constant terms) representing 0.32% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 7.6% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 0.34% in 2023 to 0.32% in 2024. Within Qatar’s ODA portfolio in 2023, 97.6% was provided in the form of grants and 2.4% in the form of non-grants.2
Note: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income.
Qatar provided most of its ODA bilaterally in 2023. Gross bilateral ODA was 94.1% of total ODA disbursements. Thirteen per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2023, Qatar provided USD 130.3 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 36% in real terms from 2022. Of this, USD 41.9 million was core multilateral ODA (5.9% of total ODA), while USD 88.4 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 82.8% of Qatar’s non‑core contributions and 17.2% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
The UN system received 56.7% of Qatar’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 44 million (59.6%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 73.9 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Qatar’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (USD 23.4 million), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (USD 18.6 million), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (USD 10 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, Qatar’s bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 667.1 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 13.5% in real terms from 2022.
In 2023, country programmable aid amounted to USD 179.4 million, or 26.9% of Qatar’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the non-DAC country average of 37.7%.
In 2023, Qatar channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector, multilateral organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
In 2023, CSOs received USD 85.2 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 13.9% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 12.6% was channelled through CSOs for earmarked funding From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 14.1% to 12.8%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Qatar’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on the Middle East. USD 329.6 million was allocated to the Middle East and USD 112.9 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe, accounting respectively for 49.4% and 16.9% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 95.4 million was allocated to countries in Africa. Asia (excluding the Middle East) was also the main regional recipient of Qatar’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2023, 73.1% of gross bilateral ODA went to Qatar’s top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are in the Middle East, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The West Bank and Gaza Strip was the main recipient of Qatar’s bilateral ODA. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 9.5%.
In 2023, Qatar allocated 15.4% of its gross bilateral ODA (USD 102.6 million) to the least developed countries (LDCs), representing 0.05% of its GNI. Qatar allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (39.8%) to lower middle-income countries in 2023, noting that 9.5% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Qatar allocated 6.7% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2023, equal to USD 44.9 million. Qatar allocated 0.2% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states in 2023, equal to USD 1.4 million.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 447 million in 2023, representing 67% of Qatar’s gross bilateral ODA. Fifty-five per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, a decrease from 64.9% in 2022, while 2.8% was allocated to peace, a decrease from 5.1% in 2022. Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, more than half of Qatar’s bilateral ODA was allocated to humanitarian assistance. Investments in this area accounted for 54.9% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 366.2 million), with a strong focus on support to emergency response (USD 364.1 million), and reconstruction, relief and rehabilitation (USD 2 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 205.1 million, with a focus on education (USD 154.5 million). Other macro sectors amounted to USD 50.8 million (7.6% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused also on social and economic sectors in 2023.
In 2023, Qatar also:
Allocated 13.3% of its bilateral ODA (USD 88.7 million) to core poverty-reducing sectors as defined by 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 39.8 million (6.2% 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 Qatar as TOSSD totalled USD 652.6 million, down from USD 835 million in 2022. Qatar’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG 3 (good health and well-being). Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
The QFFD is a public corporation affiliated with the Council of Ministers, established under Law 19/2002 and governed by a Board of Directors. It serves as Qatar’s primary entity for providing ODA, ensuring alignment with both national and global development priorities.
In 2024, the QFFD underwent further institutional reforms to enhance effectiveness, efficiency and accountability. This includes the development of a new corporate strategy for 2025-30, aligned with the state’s International Cooperation Strategy, to guide its long-term vision and priorities. Furthermore, the QFFD has been strengthening its independent risk and compliance and monitoring and evaluation functions to reinforce governance and oversight, ensuring strict adherence to international financial integrity standards, and enhancing frameworks to further strengthen the results-based approach and impact assessments. To tap into the potential of a more diversified finance approach, the QFFD has established a dedicated Investment and Development Finance Department. Additionally, the QFFD is advancing digital transformation to streamline ODA delivery.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD): https://qatarfund.org.qa
Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy for 2024-2030: https://www.npc.qa/en/planning/nds3/Documents/QNDS3_EN.pdf
Qatar has been a Participant of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 2016.
Qatar has been reporting to the OECD at activity level since 2020 for 2019 activities.
The QFFD participated as observer in the DAC Peer Review of Switzerland in 2019 and the DAC Peer Review of the Netherlands in 2022/23 to further strengthen its development co-operation approach.
The QFFD is a member of the Arab Coordination Group, and regularly participates in the Arab-DAC Dialogue on Development. It also engages in the OECD Peer Learning Circles for Development Impact and other DAC peer learning networks.
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. 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.