Official development assistance in 2020

In 2020, Luxembourg’s official development assistance (ODA) amounted to EUR 396.93 million, 1.03% of gross national income (GNI). Luxembourg is therefore still one of the small number of OECD members – alongside Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom – to have maintained its ODA at 0.7% of GNI or above. In absolute terms, the US remains the most generous donor, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and France.

Because of the pandemic and its impact on the country’s economy, Luxembourg’s ODA was EUR 23.87 million less than in 2019. However, the aim of the 2018-2023 government programme to maintain an ODA/GNI ratio of 1% was met. Despite this budget constraint, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation worked particularly hard to avoid any impact on the implementation of ongoing projects/programmes. In cases where the health crisis made it impossible to continue with a project/programme, the Ministry encouraged its partners to reallocate the funds to a COVID-19 response in developing countries.

At the international level, official development assistance reached USD 161.2 billion in 2020, an increase of 3.5% in real terms compared to 2019. This represents 0.32% of the combined GNI of the members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee and is the highest level ever achieved. The increase in global official assistance is in part due to the efforts made by some countries and institutions to respond to the health crisis.