Published 2026-03-12 · data 2023 · ODA % of GNI (2023)
Who spends the most national income on development aid?
2023 net ODA as a share of gross national income. The UN target for donor countries is 0.7% of GNI.
Foreign aid has saved millions of lives — PEPFAR's HIV treatment, GAVI's vaccinations — and with recent cuts to US programs, who gives how much matters more than ever. The UN benchmark is 0.7% of national income. In 2023, these seven donors combined for 6.15 percentage points of GNI in net ODA, with Qatar taking the largest share (19%), ahead of Luxembourg (17.1%) and Norway (16.6%).
1 cell = 0.0062 percentage points (GNI share) (0.1% of combined ODA/GNI of listed donors) · 1,000 cells
Context
ODA as a share of GNI is the standard yardstick for donor generosity, and the UN asks countries to reach 0.7%. Most countries spend less than 1% of national income on aid, and researchers argue that even small increases could dramatically improve lives in lower-income countries.
Aid takes many forms, from emergency relief to health and education programs. Supporters point to successes like PEPFAR and GAVI; critics counter that aid can fail or cause harm, disrupting local economies or making governments more responsive to foreign powers than their own citizens.
Measurement has caveats: a significant share of aid is spent within donor countries — on hosting refugees, student scholarships and administration — rather than overseas. With recent US cuts threatening programs that saved millions of lives each year, the stakes of this generosity race are high.
OECD ODA as % of GNI, 2023, via Our World in Data. Cell counts are proportional to each donor’s ODA/GNI ratio.
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