Development Co-operation Profiles: United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been a provider of development co-operation since 1971. The United Arab Emirates’ development co-operation is guided by its foreign assistance policy. Its ambitions are to be a leading donor globally and to reduce poverty, enhance stability and peace, strengthen relationships, and foster trade and investment ties, contributing to global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2024, the United Arab Emirates established a dedicated aid agency. The United Arab Emirates’ official development assistance (ODA) focuses on supporting fragile countries and contexts and is mostly channelled to bilateral country partnerships for development through multi-year programmes. The United Arab Emirates’ total ODA (USD 1.7 billion, preliminary data) decreased in 2024, representing 0.32% of gross national income (GNI).

This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.

Policy

In 2022, the United Arab Emirates updated its foreign assistance policy, which outlines its priorities across seven global themes (women and girls’ empowerment and protection; education; health; addressing climate change; food security; infrastructure development; and science, technology and innovation). The overarching objective of its development co-operation is to promote global peace and prosperity, with humanitarian aid also playing a central role in the country’s global sustainable development efforts. The United Arab Emirates is a proponent of the “beyond aid” agenda and is mobilising funds from other actors, notably the private sector and philanthropy.

The United Arab Emirates’ policy emphasises being “demand-driven” and collaboration with other development partners (i.e. bilateral providers, multilateral organisations, the private sector and domestic companies). It also focuses on the United Arab Emirates’ comparative advantages, a commitment to addressing neglected issues and under-supported communities, sustainability, and making aid transparent and focused on results. The United Arab Emirates is currently focused on improving the effectiveness and impact of its activities, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation co-ordinating the activities of all of the country’s providers (for more details, see the Institutional set-up section).

ODA allocation overview

The United Arab Emirates provided USD 1.7 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2024 (USD 1.6 billion in constant terms), representing 0.32% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 20.6% in real terms in volume and in the share of GNI from 2023. The United Arab Emirates is not in line with the international commitment to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio. Within the United Arab Emirates’ ODA portfolio in 2023, 87.2% was provided in the form of grants and 12.8% in the form of non-grants.2

United Arab Emirates: Performance against commitments and DAC Recommendations

Description	Target	2022	2023	2024, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)	0.7	0.28	0.40	0.32
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.16	0.11
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	48.8	72.9

Note: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC Recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.

The United Arab Emirates provided almost all its ODA bilaterally in 2023. Gross bilateral ODA was 98.1% of total ODA disbursements. Twelve per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).

ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2023, the United Arab Emirates provided USD 313.3 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 64.4% in real terms from 2022 (1.9% of total ODA). Of this, USD 43.3 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 270 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 60.9% of the United Arab Emirates’ non-core contributions and 39.1% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

The United Nations (UN) system received 78.1% of the United Arab Emirates’ contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 230 million (94%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 244.6 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of the United Arab Emirates’ support (core and earmarked contributions) were the World Food Programme (USD 123.7 million), the World Health Organization (USD 43.3 million), and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (USD 37.4 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.

Bilateral ODA

In 2023, the United Arab Emirates’ bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 2.2 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 15.1% in real terms from 2022.

In 2023, country programmable aid amounted to USD 795.1 million, or 36.2% of the United Arab Emirates’ gross bilateral ODA, compared to the non-DAC country average of 37.7%.

In 2023, the United Arab Emirates channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector and multilateral organisations.

Civil society organisations

In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 260.6 million of gross bilateral ODA. Overall, 0.2% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 11.8% 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 increased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 8.6% to 11.9%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2023, the United Arab Emirates’ bilateral ODA primarily focused on the Middle East. USD 1.2 billion was allocated to the Middle East and USD 441.7 million to countries in Africa, accounting respectively for 52.5% and 20.1% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 271.4 million was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East). The Middle East was also the main regional recipient of the United Arab Emirates’ earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.

In 2023, 79.5% of gross bilateral ODA went to the United Arab Emirates’ top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are mainly in the Middle East and Africa. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 5.4%.

In 2023, the United Arab Emirates allocated 0.11% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). The United Arab Emirates allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (33.4%) to lower middle-income countries in 2023, noting that 5.4% was unallocated by income group. LDCs received 25.8% of the United Arab Emirates’ gross bilateral ODA (USD 567.4 million). Additionally, the United Arab Emirates allocated 18.7% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2023, equal to USD 410.8 million. The United Arab Emirates allocated 7.1% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states in 2023, equal to USD 155.9 million.

In 2024, the United Arab Emirates provided USD 12.8 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine, an 8.7% decrease from 2023 in real terms. USD 12.8 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2024, an 8.6% decrease from 2023.

Responding to fragility

Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 1.5 billion in 2023, representing 69.1% of the United Arab Emirates’ gross bilateral ODA. Sixty-four per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, an increase from 23.2% in 2022. Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.

Sectors

In 2022, the United Arab Emirates allocated USD 150 million to general budget support, representing 39.4% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 200 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 96.9 million, with a focus on health and population (USD 65.4 million). Economic infrastructure and services amounted to USD 86.4 million (17% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused also on macro sectors and social sectors in 2023.

Environment

In 2022-23, the United Arab Emirates committed 7.7% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 31.3 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the non-DAC country average was 0.4%), up from 4.2% in 2020-21. In addition:

• 2.5% of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 15 million) focused on climate change overall, down from 4.2% in 2020-21 (the non-DAC country average was 2.5%).

Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Poverty focus and other policy objectives

In 2023, the United Arab Emirates also:

• Allocated 4.1% of its bilateral ODA (USD 90.6 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. A further 0.3% of bilateral ODA (USD 7.1 million) went to social protection support.

• Committed USD 86.4 million (24.1% 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

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 the United Arab Emirates as TOSSD totalled USD 2.1 billion, down from USD 2.8 billion in 2022. The United Arab Emirates’ TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 3 (good health and well-being). Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) is responsible for setting policies, defining geographical and sectoral priorities, and overseeing the strategic direction of the United Arab Emirates’ development co-operation. In addition to its policy-making role, the ministry determines the modalities and mechanisms for foreign aid distribution, implementation and documentation of aid flows. The MoFA also co-ordinates the activities of all public donors in the United Arab Emirates, including the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), which is the country’s primary public fund engaged in development co-operation. The ADFD also collaborates with the private sector and philanthropic organisations to enhance development efforts.

In 2024, the United Arab Emirates’ Aid Agency (UAE Aid) was established as a dedicated entity to oversee and implement the United Arab Emirates’ humanitarian and development assistance programmes. UAE Aid plays a central role in managing aid distribution, ensuring alignment with the United Arab Emirates’ foreign assistance policy, and enhancing efficiency and co-ordination in delivering its aid globally. It works closely with the MoFA, the ADFD and other United Arab Emirates’ donors, strengthening the country’s ability to respond to humanitarian crises, support long-term development projects, and engage with multilateral organisations and international aid frameworks.

This institutional framework ensures a co-ordinated and strategic approach to the United Arab Emirates’ global development and humanitarian efforts, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable development and international co-operation.

Other profiles

Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.

Additional resources

The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFA): https://www.mofa.gov.ae/en

The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Aid Policy: https://www.mofa.gov.ae/en/The-Ministry/UAE-International-Development-Cooperation#:~:text=The%20fundamental%20purpose%20of%20UAE,investment%20ties%20with%20developing%20countries

The United Arab Emirates’ Annual Foreign Aid Reports: https://www.mofaic.gov.ae/en/The-Ministry/UAE-International-Development-Cooperation/Annual-Foreign-Aid-Report

The United Arab Emirates has been a Participant of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 2014.

The United Arab Emirates has been reporting to the OECD since 1970 and reporting activity-level data since 2010.

The United Arab Emirates participated as an observer in the Peer Review of Germany in 2015.

The ADFD is a member of the Arab Coordination Group. In this context, it participates in regular Arab-DAC Dialogues on Development.

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied.

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.

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Notes

← 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.