Official Development Assistance (ODA) Germany met international financing target for development cooperation in 2021

    Press release 12 April 2022 | Berlin – According to preliminary OECD calculations Germany last year again met the internationally agreed target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI) for development cooperation.

    In fact, Germany’s ODA ratio last year amounted to 0.74 per cent of GNI. This makes Germany the second largest donor worldwide in absolute terms after the US and before Japan, Great Britain and France.

    Development State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth stated that “it is important that Germany is ready to support other countries in partnership, especially in difficult times, and to tackle global challenges. The ODA ratio, as it is called, is an important indicator of solidarity in the world. The ratio in isolation, however, says little, because in times of poor economic growth, such as last year, and in combination with extraordinary expenditures for the global vaccine campaign, the target is much easier to reach than in years with better economic results. That is why, alongside the relative efforts we are undertaking, the absolute dimension of the actual support we are providing is crucial. The multiple crises we are currently faced with – from the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, to the growing need to engage in fighting hunger and to missions in crisis regions such as Afghanistan or the Sahel – demand adequate funding for development cooperation.”

    Altogether, Germany's Federal Government, Länder and local authorities spent some 27.3 billion euros as ODA, 13.7 billion euros coming from the BMZ budget. In addition to the development cooperation projects all over the world funded mainly by the German Development Ministry, measures that are ODA-eligible also include the cost of university places in Germany for students from developing countries (1.5 billion euros) and parts of the spending for refugees who have come to Germany for protection (2.3 billion euros). Germany’s ODA ratio excluding costs for refugees in Germany is 0.68 per cent.

    The OECD is expected to release final ODA figures for 2021 in late 2022. The 0.7 target for ODA spending was agreed by the United Nations in 1972.

    For more information, go to www.oecd.org/dac (External link)

    Correction: the press release originally stated that 13.7 billion euros came from the federal budget. They do in fact come from the BMZ budget.