Ranked: The OECD Countries Giving the Most Foreign Aid

Pallavi Rao
2025-03-25 15:48:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

Ranked: OECD Countries Giving the Most Aid

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This graphic by Our World in Data ranks OECD countries—a collection of mostly high-income economies—by the most foreign aid given in 2022.

They reference figures from the UN which tracks net official development assistance (ODA) to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as a percentage of OECD-DAC donors countries’ gross national income (GNI).

A benchmark in the 1980s set the threshold at 0.15% of their national income. By 2022, only three countries sat above that line.

How Major Economies Compare in Giving Foreign Aid

In 2022, only Luxembourg, Sweden, and Norway gave 0.15% or more of their national income as foreign assistance

Ranked	Country	Foreign Assistance to LDCs (% of GNI)
1	Luxembourg	0.46%
2	Sweden	0.28%
3	Norway	0.20%
4	Denmark	0.14%
5	Iceland	0.14%
6	Belgium	0.13%
7	France	0.12%
8	Germany	0.12%
9	Japan	0.12%
10	Netherlands	0.12%
11	Switzerland	0.12%
12	Finland	0.11%
13	Ireland	0.11%
14	Canada	0.10%
15	United Kingdom	0.08%
16	United States	0.08%
17	Austria	0.07%
18	South Korea	0.06%
19	Slovenia	0.06%
20	Italy	0.05%
21	Australia	0.04%
22	New Zealand	0.04%
23	Spain	0.04%
24	Portugal	0.03%
25	Czechia	0.02%
26	Greece	0.02%
27	Poland	0.02%
28	Slovakia	0.02%
29	Hungary	0.02%
30	Lithuania	0.02%
31	Estonia	0.02%

Meanwhile, the U.S. sent around 0.08% of its national income, behind many of its peers including Canada, France, Germany, and the UK.

However as these values are percentages, the actual dollar amount is a lot higher. Also this metric only tracks assistance to LDCs.

In fact the UN states that the U.S. is the single-largest foreign aid donor, accounting for 40% of all humanitarian aid tracked in 2024.

A large part of U.S. assistance went to Ukraine, but many African countries feature prominently on the receivers list.

Most recently, the Trump administration announced a 90-day freeze on USAID, the agency that oversees its humanitarian support.

The Economics of Foreign Aid Programs

Foreign aid can be instrumental during crises, such as providing food during famines or medical assistance during disasters.

However, failures can and do occur. A notable example is Haiti, which received nearly $13 billion in aid after a devastating earthquake in 2010. Haitian activists say that this has disincentivized the political class to carry out institutional reforms.

While this money has been vital in providing services and supplies to Haitians, violence, corruption, and political paralysis has gone unchecked.

On the other hand, well-targeted aid, like funding infrastructure projects in Rwanda or investing in education programs in Bangladesh, can drive long-term growth.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Where does U.S. foreign aid go? View this graphic on Voronoi, the new app by Visual Capitalist, to find out.

The post Ranked: The OECD Countries Giving the Most Foreign Aid appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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