Because of refugees

Austria gives less money for development aid

(Bild: APA/ANGELIKA KREINER)

Austria spent less money on development aid in 2023 than in the previous year. The decrease in Austria is partly due to lower refugee care costs.

Official development assistance amounted to 0.38% of gross national income (GNI), slightly above the OECD average of 0.37%, but below the figure for 2022 (0.39%). Overall, development aid from OECD countries reached an all-time high of 223.7 billion US dollars (205.99 billion euros), the organization announced on Thursday.

Aid for Ukraine
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) is once again due to aid for Ukraine. In the previous year, this had already set a new record for ODA (185.5 billion euros). However, the OECD also recorded an increase in humanitarian aid.

At 0.38 percent of GNI, Austria - like the majority of other OECD countries - is lagging behind the United Nations' 0.7 percent target. According to the preliminary OECD figures, only Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany and Denmark achieved this last year.

31 member states
Out of a total of 31 member states of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), 14 were able to increase their development aid funding in 2023, while 17 countries - including Austria (minus 4.1 percent) - saw a decrease. The OECD cites the lower costs for refugee care in Austria as one of the reasons for this. As in previous years, the USA, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and France were the largest donor countries.