Development Co‑operation Profiles: Romania
Table of contents
Romania’s international development co-operation has grown in recent years, with a focus on the extended Black Sea region, the Western Balkans, Africa and the Middle East. The Republic of Moldova is the main beneficiary of Romania’s international development co-operation and humanitarian assistance efforts. The Romanian Agency for International Development Cooperation (RoAid) was established in 2017 and began implementing aid activities in 2018. Romania’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 587.2 million, preliminary data) decreased in 2024, representing 0.16% of its gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Romania’s assistance is provided in line with Law No. 213/2016, which regulates international development co-operation and humanitarian aid. The law sets out the strategic objectives, the programmatic and institutional framework, as well as the financing and implementation modalities of Romania’s development co-operation. In terms of international development co-operation and humanitarian assistance, Romania’s global strategic objective is to contribute to the eradication of extreme poverty through effective partnerships with partner countries to achieve their sustainable development objectives.
Romania adopted its new strategic framework, the “2024-2027 Multiannual Strategic Programme of International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance”. Thematic priorities include: institutional development; green transition, the environment and climate change; and human development. Its policy implementation instruments include bilateral assistance (e.g. transferring best practices, including on European integration; providing humanitarian assistance) and multilateral assistance (e.g. supporting the activities of essential international organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).
Since 2024, Romania’s focus has been on ten priority countries and territories: Albania, Ethiopia, Georgia, Mauritania, Moldova, the Palestinian Authority, Senegal, Serbia, the United Republic of Tanzania and Ukraine. Romania’s international development co-operation objectives will be fulfilled through collaboration with civil society, academia and the private sector, as well as by promoting transparency and communication, mobilising additional resources, and consolidating the capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) as the national co-ordinator of international development co-operation and humanitarian assistance.
Romania provided USD 587.2 million (preliminary data) of ODA in 2024 (USD 539.1 million in constant terms) representing 0.16% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 1.6% in real terms in volume and in the share of GNI from 2023. Romania is not on track to meet its commitment to reach 0.33% of GNI by 2030 as part of the collective EU commitment to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Total ODA on a grant-equivalent basis has the same value as net ODA under the cash-flow methodology used in the past, as Romania provides only grants.2
Note: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC Recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income.
Romania provided a higher share of its ODA multilaterally in 2023. Gross bilateral ODA was 38.2% of total ODA disbursements. Three per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2023, Romania provided USD 344.1 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 5.1% in real terms from 2022. Of this, USD 338.4 million was core multilateral ODA (61.8% of total ODA), while USD 5.8 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 12.5% of Romania’s non-core contributions and 87.5% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
The United Nations (UN) system received 3.5% of Romania’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 2.4 million (19.5%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 12.1 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Romania’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were UN Secretariat (USD 4.8 million), the Food and Agriculture Organization (USD 0.8 million) and the United Nations Development Programme (USD 0.8 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, Romania’s bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 209.6 million of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 76% in real terms from 2022.
In 2023, country programmable aid amounted to USD 16 million, or 7.6% of Romania’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the non-DAC country average of 37.7%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 114.2 million in 2023, representing 54.5% of Romania’s gross bilateral ODA. This was an increase of 614.5% in real terms over 2022.
In 2023, Romania channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector. Technical co-operation made up 12.6% of gross ODA in 2023.
In 2023, Romania’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on ODA-eligible countries in Europe. USD 77.9 million was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 6.8% was for Ukraine) and USD 6.1 million to the Middle East, accounting respectively for 37.2% and 2.9% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 4.4 million was allocated to countries in Africa. Europe was also the main regional recipient of Romania’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.
In 2023, 40.9% of gross bilateral ODA went to Romania’s top 10 recipients primarily in Europe, namely Moldova, as well as the Middle East. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 56.2%, of which 97% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.
In 2023, Romania allocated 0.01% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Romania allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (37.6%) to upper middle-income countries in 2023, noting that 56.2% was unallocated by income group. LDCs received 0.6% of Romania’s gross bilateral ODA (USD 1.3 million). Additionally, Romania allocated 32.1% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2023, equal to USD 67.2 million.
In 2024, Romania provided USD 5.7 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s full-scale invasion, a 2.2% decrease from 2023 in real terms. USD 0 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2024, a 100% decrease from 2023.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 9.3 million in 2023, representing 4.4% of Romania’s gross bilateral ODA. Forty-nine per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, an increase from 21.2% in 2022, while 0.4% was allocated to peace, an increase from 0% in 2022. Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, more than half of Romania’s bilateral ODA was allocated to macro sectors, mostly in the area of support to refugees in donor countries (USD 114.2 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 75.3 million, with a focus on education (USD 72.2 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 10.2 million (4.9% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused also on other macro and social sectors in 2023.
In 2022-23, Romania committed 0.2% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 0.2 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the non-DAC country average was 0.4%), down from 0.3% in 2020-21. In addition:
Eight-eight per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective.
All of Romania’s screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 0.1 million) focused on biodiversity overall, up from 0.4% 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.
In 2023, Romania also:
Allocated USD 100 thousand 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. A further 0.1% of bilateral ODA (USD 0.1 million) went to social protection support.
Committed USD 500 thousand (0.5% 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 Romania as TOSSD totalled USD 712.3 million, up from USD 479.9 million in 2022. Romania’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals). Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
The MFA co-ordinates Romania’s international development co-operation and humanitarian assistance policy at the national level. As such, it monitors the progress made in achieving Romania’s objectives and international commitments while also collecting analyses for reporting at the national and international levels on Romania’s development co-operation and humanitarian aid activities.
Regulated by Law No. 213/2016 and operational since 2017, RoAid is the national development institution, under the direct authority of the MFA, which is responsible for implementing projects and programmes in the field of international development co-operation and humanitarian assistance. The agency has promoted partnerships with the private sector and non-governmental organisations. In its international co‑operation with other development co-operation agencies, RoAid has also been active as a member of the Practitioners’ Network for European Development Co-operation since 2019. In addition, Law No. 213/2016 established an Advisory Committee for International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance. The committee is responsible for ensuring the efficient integration of strategic planning and designation of geographic and thematic priorities for Romania’s development co-operation activities.
The MFA publicly communicates reports on its website through a dedicated section to international development co-operation, notably with information on annual reports on Romania’s ODA, as well as the legal, institutional and budgetary frameworks. On average, some 20 public institutions in Romania are reporting ODA activities. In 2024, more than 40 public institutions reported ODA activities, including universities and local public administrations.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: https://www.mae.ro/en/node/2062
Romanian Agency for International Development Cooperation website (2024): https://roaid.ro/en/2382-2
Law 213 of November 9th, 2016 on International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance, https://www.mae.ro/sites/default/files/file/anul_2024/pdf_2024/law_213_2016_en.pdf
The 2024-2027 Multiannual Strategic Programme of International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance: https://roaid.ro/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/en_2024-2027_multiannual_strategic_programme_of_international_development.pdf
Romania has been a Participant in the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 2018. Following a request by Romania in July 2024, the DAC agreed in February 2025 to launch a review to assess Romania’s readiness for accession to the DAC as an Associate.
On 25 January 2022, the OECD Council decided to open accession discussions with Romania and five other countries, taking into account the criteria of like-mindedness, significant player, mutual benefit and global considerations and recognising these countries’ progress toward fulfilling the criteria outlined in the Framework for Consideration of Prospective Members.
Romania has been reporting to the OECD since 2008 and reporting activity-level data since 2015 on 2014 activities.
Romania participated in the DAC High Level Meeting in 2025.
Romania is an Adherent to 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 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness; and the OECD Declaration on Policy Coherence for Development. Learn more about DAC Recommendations.
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.