Development Co-operation Profiles

Denmark

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Introduction

Denmark’s development co-operation focuses on tackling poverty and inequality, with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement as overarching frameworks. Most of Denmark’s official development assistance (ODA) is provided as bilateral co-operation, primarily to fragile partner countries in Africa. Denmark’s total ODA (USD 3.1 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2023, representing 0.74% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

Denmark’s 2021 policy, The World We Share, underlines democratic values and human rights as the foundations of its development co-operation, aiming at preventing and fighting poverty and inequality, conflict and displacement, irregular migration and fragility; as well as leading the fight against climate change and restore balance to the planet. The government’s Priorities for Development Cooperation 2022-2025 are focused on four main areas: green development co-operation with 35% of total ODA; Africa; Ukraine and the Eastern neighbourhood; as well as humanitarian and nexus approaches, and irregular migration.

Denmark’s co-operation with multilateral organisations is guided by dedicated strategies for each organisation developed to ensure that funding to the organisation is aligned with Denmark’s development co-operation priorities. Denmark’s Global Climate Action Strategy aims to increase global climate ambition, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthen the focus on climate adaptation and sustainable development. At the international level, Denmark advocates for gender equality and women’s rights, as well as the defence of democracy and countering torture.

Poverty and inequality reduction focus

Poverty reduction is a central part of the Danish development co-operation mandate and is enshrined in its development law as a main objective. Denmark takes a multi-dimensional approach to both poverty and inequalities – encompassing both vertical and horizontal dimensions. It places a particular emphasis on the driving factors. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “how-to note” on fighting poverty and inequality details how poverty and inequality can be mainstreamed across the full spectrum of Danish development co-operation. This approach is further reinforced by the inclusion of a poverty criterion in the programme appraisal stage.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The 2021 OECD-DAC peer review found that broad public support and a budget balancing mechanism enable Denmark to provide 0.7% of its GNI as ODA. Denmark champions gender equality, human rights and democracy; supports transparent communication; and empowers its partners. Mainstreaming climate objectives would complement Denmark’s significant investments in climate diplomacy. A global leader in fragile contexts, the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) recommended that Denmark better implement the peace component of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and better integrate poverty reduction across its programme. The Doing Development Differently approach enables flexible budgets and trusting partnerships. The peer review found that Denmark had fully or partially implemented all of the 19 recommendations of the 2016 peer review. Learn more about Denmark’s 2021 DAC peer review and its management response [DCD/DAC/AR(2024)5/5].

ODA allocation overview

Denmark provided USD 3.1 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 3 billion in constant terms), representing 0.74% of GNI.1 This was an increase of 10% in real terms in volume and an increase in the share of GNI from 2022. Since 1978, Denmark has provided at least 0.7% of its GNI as ODA for more than forty years, in line with its domestic and EU commitments to achieving a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio. Denmark provided all of its ODA as grants in 2022. 2

In 2023, Denmark ranked 5^th among DAC member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. In 2022, Denmark was among DAC members that allocated the most ODA to LDCs as a share of GNI, although this share is on a downward trend. The increase of in-donor refugee costs in 2022 means that shares of bilateral ODA allocated to other areas may have decreased from 2021 to 2022, even if absolute volumes have not.

 

Notes: Data on official development assistance (ODA) volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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Denmark is committed to several international targets and Development Assistance Committee standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC recommendations.

Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)	0.7	0.71	0.67	0.74
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.22	0.14
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	100	100
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		90.1	93.5
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	100	100

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

Denmark provided most of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 73.1% of total ODA disbursements. Thirty-two per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Denmark allocated 26.9% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, Denmark provided USD 179.4 million (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression, a 17.7% increase from 2022 in real terms. USD 83.3 million of the amount was allocated to humanitarian assistance in 2023, an 11.6% decrease from 2022.

 

Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, Denmark provided USD 1.4 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 18.1% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 758.2 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 652.7 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 13.2% of Denmark’s non-core contributions, and 86.8% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Seventy-six per cent of Denmark’s total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to EU Institutions and the UN system.

 

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The United Nations (UN) system received 49.2% of Denmark’s multilateral contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 694.3 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Denmark’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were UNDP (USD 112.1 million), UNHCR (USD 97.4 million) and UNFPA (USD 73.9 million).

 

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See the section Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, Denmark’s bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 2.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 4.4% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 30.1% of Denmark’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 356.7 million in 2022, an increase of 487.7% in real terms over 2021, and represented 17.3% of Denmark’s total gross bilateral ODA.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Denmark channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through multilateral organisations as earmarked funding, public sector and civil society organisations (CSOs). Technical co-operation made up 2.4% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, CSOs received USD 588.8 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 8.5% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 1.8% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 25.3% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2021 to 2022, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs slightly increased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 27.3% to 27.1%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, Denmark’s bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Africa. USD 497.2 million was allocated to Africa and USD 202.4 million to the Middle East, respectively, accounting for 24.1% and 9.8% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 165 million was allocated to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 91.3% was to Ukraine). Africa was also the main regional recipient of Denmark’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, which was in line with the policy priorities of its overall strategy.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 27.8% of gross bilateral ODA went to Denmark’s top 10 recipients, all of which are fragile states and prioritised areas of focus. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 57.8%, of which 30% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, Denmark allocated 0.14% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Denmark allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (20.6%) to least developed countries in 2022, noting that 57.8% was unallocated by income group. Least developed countries (LDCs) received 20.6% of Denmark’s gross bilateral ODA (USD 425 million). Additionally, Denmark allocated 14.4% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 297.4 million. Denmark allocated 0% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2022, equal to USD 0 million.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support to fragile contexts was USD 598.8 million in 2022, representing 29.1% of Denmark’s gross bilateral ODA. Forty-two per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, increasing from 35.8% in 2021, while 22.3% was allocated to peace, decreasing from 24.6% in 2021. Four per cent went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing a decrease from 7.2% in 2021. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, the largest focus of Denmark’s bilateral ODA was social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area totalled USD 479.2 million, focusing on government and civil society (USD 259.5 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 435.4 million (24.9% of bilateral ODA). Support to refugees in donor countries amounted to USD 356.7 million. Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused on social sectors and other sectors in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, Denmark disbursed USD 28.9 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 124.2 million in 2021. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Denmark provided USD 13 million in ODA for donations of doses to developing countries in 2022, down 75.7% from USD 53.4 million in 2021. All COVID-19 vaccines accounted for donations of doses from domestic supply in 2022.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, Denmark committed 36.8% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women’s empowerment as either a principal or significant objective (down from 42.1% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 565.3 million of bilateral ODA in support of gender equality. Unpacking the gender equality data further:

• The share of screened bilateral allocable aid committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 8.3% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• Denmark includes gender equality objectives in 11.1% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, below the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• Denmark screens the majority of their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (96.5% in 2021-22).

• Denmark committed USD 30.1 thousand of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 5.3 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements and government institutions in 2021-22.

Learn more about Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: DAC Guidance for Development Partners and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.

 

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Environment

In 2021-22, Denmark committed 30.3% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 462.9 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), up from 28.5% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

• Twelve per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11%.

• Twenty-five per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 380.9 million) focused on climate change overall, down from 25.1% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). Denmark had a greater focus on adaptation (18%) than on mitigation (17.1%) in 2021-22.

• Three per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 38.5 million) focused on biodiversity overall, up from 1.7% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 7.2%).

Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change [DAC/CHAIR(2021)1/FINAL].

 

Note: In this figure, the category climate includes climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation efforts.

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Performance against environment and Rio Markers, 2021-2022

Marker	Constant 2022 USD million	% of bilateral allocable
Environment	370.3	25.2
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	38.5	2.6
Desertification	30.5	2.1
Climate change mitigation only	118.8	7.8
Climate change adaptation only	130	8.5
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	132.1	8.6

Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.

The OECD initiative Sustainable Oceans for All shows that Denmark committed USD 6.1 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2022, USD 28 million less than in 2021. The 2022 value is equivalent to 0.5% of Denmark’s bilateral allocable aid.

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, Denmark also:

• Rarely requested exemptions on its ODA-funded goods and services in partner countries and territories. It makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 81.3 million (6% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy.

• Committed USD 49 million (3.6% of its bilateral allocable aid) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as unallocated / unspecified, education and emergency response.

• Committed USD 54.8 million (4.1% of its bilateral allocable aid) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

Mobilised private finance

Denmark uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2022, Denmark’s Investment Fund For Developing Countries (IFU) mobilised USD 287.8 million from the private sector through direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles. This constituted a 2.9% decrease compared to 2021.

 

Note: CIV: collective investment vehicle; SPV: special purpose vehicle.

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A share of 86.3% targeted middle-income countries, while 3.3% went to LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs) in 2021-22, noting that 10.4% was unallocated by income.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Mobilised private finance by Denmark in 2021-22 related mainly to activities in energy (55.5%), as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 88.9% of Denmark’s total mobilised private finance was for climate action.

Private sector instruments

In 2022, Denmark’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) extended USD 107.1 million in the form of private sector instruments (PSI) to developing countries. Of this, loans accounted for 31.4% whereas equities represented 66.3%.

 

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In 2022, USD 37 million (34.6%) of Denmark’s private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other LICs, while a majority (51.4%) went to middle-income countries and UMICs in particular (42.2%). Moreover, USD 15 million were unallocated by income. Denmark’s private sector instruments mostly supported projects in the banking and financial services (55.1%) and energy (23.5%).

 

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Effectiveness of development co-operation

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation monitoring exercise tracks the implementation of the effectiveness commitments. Following the reform of the exercise over 2020-22, the 4th global monitoring round (2023-26) is underway. Information on partner countries’ participation in the exercise as well as their progress is available at the Global Dashboard. Denmark’s results from the 2016 and 2018 monitoring rounds can be found here.

To help improve the transparency of development co-operation, the OECD provides regular feedback to members on the overall quality of their statistical reporting and works with each member to ensure the data meet high-quality standards before they are published. Regarding DAC/CRS reporting to the OECD, Denmark’s reporting in 2022 was on time, with some areas to improve in terms of the completeness and the accuracy of the data.

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors all official and officially supported resources for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. It provides a broad measure of development finance with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive. In 2022, activities reported by Denmark as TOSSD totalled USD 3.2 billion, down from USD 4.4 billion in 2021, and Denmark’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere and SDG 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

Policy, co-ordination and implementation of Denmark’s development co-operation remains the remit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which manages almost all of the ODA budget. A number of joint funds have been set up in areas such as stabilisation (with the Ministries of Justice and Defense) and climate (with the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities). The brand Danida describes Denmark’s development co-operation with other countries, but there is no distinct institution called Danida. Denmark’s development finance institution’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries manages several funds for the MFA, including one with a focus on fragile situations.

Denmark has roughly 750 staff working on development co-operation, 57 % of whom are working at headquarters and 43 % of whom are working in partner countries.3

 

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The MFA organises public consultations to collect input when preparing new development co-operation strategies and policies. An important mechanism for consulting stakeholders is the Council for Development Policy, which engages in strategic and thematic discussions and publishes its deliberations and recommendations on line. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body Globalt Fokus.

Quality and oversight

Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of Denmark’s development co-operation. Select features are shown in the table below.

Features of Denmark’s systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	Quality assurance, including mainstreaming cross-cutting issues, is done through mandatory appraisals and performance reviews of all grants above DKK 10 million (USD 1.5 million).
Risk management	Denmark’s approach to managing risk is transparent and linked directly to programming decisions. Through an iterative process, risk mitigation influences programme design and implementation and is linked to adaptive management. Risk matrices are revisited on a regular basis, and annual audits are used to reassess risks.
Innovation and adaptation	Denmark promotes innovation and technology as a lever for development under its Techvelopment Approach, and invests in digital solutions to address human rights and governance challenges. Denmark published lessons from its Tech Diplomacy Strategy 2021-2023. In 2019, Denmark launched its “Doing Development Differently” approach with holistic and adaptive strategic planning processes in partner countries.
Results management	Reforms under Denmark’s Doing Development Differently approach enable its programmes and partnerships to focus on long-term results while being more agile, responsive and co-ordinated. While Denmark has been using results information primarily for accountability purposes, it strives to make more use of results information at all levels.
Evaluation	The Evaluation Department is an independent, specialised unit tasked to plan, design and implement evaluations of Danida’s development co-operation and disseminate results. Learn more about Denmark’s evaluation system. Visit the DAC Evaluation Resource Centre for evaluations of Denmark’s development co-operation.
Knowledge management and learning	The Department for Evaluation, Learning and Quality facilitates learning within Danida, including between missions and headquarters.
Communication and transparency	The World We Share strategy is based on the Sustainable Development Goals and Danish interests. The OpenAid website communicates all data, financial flows and development results, unfiltered. It is currently under revision to ease access to financial information and development results.

Additional resources

2021 OECD-DAC peer review of Denmark: https://www.oecd.org/dac/peer-reviews/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-denmark-2021-6e9b77e5-en.htm

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (2022), The Government’s Priorities for Danish Development Cooperation 2022: Expenditure Framework for Danish Development Cooperation, 2022-2025: https://um.dk/en/-/media/websites/umen/danida/strategies-and-priorities/priorities-of-the-danish-government/the-governments-priorities-for-danish-development-cooperation-2022.ashx

OpenAid, Denmark’s ODA data and results portal: https://openaid.um.dk

Danish Government (2020), A Green and Sustainable World: The Danish Government’s Long-term Strategy for Global Climate Action: https://um.dk/en/-/media/websites/umen/foreign-policy/global-climate-action-strategy/a_green_and_sustainable_world.ashx

Website to track Denmark’s progress against the Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.verdensmaal.org

CSO umbrella organisation Globalt Fokus: https://www.globaltfokus.dk

Denmark’s practices on the Development Co-operation TIPs: Tools Insights Practices learning platform: https://www.oecd.org/development-cooperation-learning?tag-key+partner=denmark#search

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1963.

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 aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

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.

← 3.  The MFA is defined as a multi-purpose executing agency and, therefore, follows the guidelines outlined in the DAC directive for this type of institution when reporting ODA-eligible administrative costs, including staff working on development co-operation.