Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Development aid in the Nordics - Statistics & Facts
Development aid is financial support from a donor country to a recipient with the purpose to improve living conditions and foster economic development in the recipient country. It can come both in terms of grants, meaning that the sum does not have to be repaid by the recipient, and loans, which have to be repaid. Development aid can be distributed either directly from the donor country to the recipient country, called bilateral aid, or via international organizations and development banks such as the World Bank or different United Nations (UN) agencies, called multilateral aid. Moreover, the amount can be allocated to specific sectors or projects, or be unallocated, meaning that the recipient has more autonomy over how to use the means. All development aid distributed by states or other public actors are called official development assistance (ODA) and accounts for around 80 percent of the development aid in the world today. However, aid can also come from other private donors such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which play an important role in international development aid.
The five Nordic countries Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden give substantial amounts of development aid each year, even though there are variations between the countries. Especially Norway and Sweden prioritize ODA high in their national budgets. It is a stated target from the UN that countries should spend at least 0.7 percent of their gross national income (GNI) on development aid, and both Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have reached this target over the past years, with contributions from the latter two even reaching over one percent in some years. In terms of total amounts, Sweden disbursed the highest net sum of the five Nordic countries with six billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Worldwide, it was the ninth largest ODA donor in terms of total amount given.
The five Nordic countries Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden give substantial amounts of development aid each year, even though there are variations between the countries. Especially Norway and Sweden prioritize ODA high in their national budgets. It is a stated target from the UN that countries should spend at least 0.7 percent of their gross national income (GNI) on development aid, and both Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have reached this target over the past years, with contributions from the latter two even reaching over one percent in some years. In terms of total amounts, Sweden disbursed the highest net sum of the five Nordic countries with six billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Worldwide, it was the ninth largest ODA donor in terms of total amount given.
Recipients
Unsurprisingly, as the target of development aid is to lift people in poor countries out of poverty, most of the recipient countries are found in Africa and Asia. Even though the largest recipients of ODA vary between the five Nordic countries, they are all found in one of these two continents. When it comes to bilateral aid, Norway and Sweden were the largest donors of the Nordic countries, both distributing over 3.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Multilaterally, Sweden was, by far, the largest donor. Country Programmable Aid (CPA) is another way of looking at aid from donors to recipients. This is aid over which the recipients can have a larger say, as emergency aid, administrative costs, NGO-funding etc. are excluded, and it thus often gives a clearer picture of actual aid received.Sectors and private donors
Development aid can be distributed to achieve both long-term and short-term targets. Long-term targets include building stable educational systems, solid business sectors, and more effective and sustainable agriculture. Short-term targets, on the other hand, include stopping humanitarian emergencies such as the spread of diseases and epidemics, and famines and starvation. A high share of the ODA from the Nordic countries is allocated to social infrastructure projects, which include the educational and health care sectors. NGOs often play an important role in implementing and conducting both short-term and long-term projects, as they often hold deep knowledge on the local conditions and usually are seen as neutral actors. For instance, the International Committee of the Red Cross received nearly 100 million U.S. dollars from the Swedish government in 2022. Although both the effectiveness of development aid and negative side effects such as corruption and aid dependency have been and continue to be questioned, there is a general agreement that development aid has improved the lives of millions of people around the world.Einar H. Dyvik
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Jul 5, 2024
Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
