Final Statistics for ODA spending in 2024 could have been promising if it weren’t for the aid cuts

Last week the final Statistics on International Development (SIDs) for 2024 were published.

Usually this would have been an important moment to assess trends and priorities of the UK’s ODA spending. However, the government’s decision to cut the aid budget from this year – with larger cuts coming in the following years – means that the 2024 statistics have much less relevance than usual. First, we’ll unpack the insights offered by the final SIDs, then we’ll turn to considering them in the context of the government’s decision to cut ODA from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3%.

What are the key findings?

Without the context of the looming cuts, the SIDs 2024 would have provided a cautiously positive picture for the direction of UK ODA, even though overall UK ODA saw a reduction from £15.3bn (0.58% of GNI) in 2023 to £14.1bn (0.5% of GNI) in 2024. The provisional SIDs from April already provided some key figures and trends, but these final SIDs include some more details.

Notably, ODA to least developed countries (LDCs)-an important proxy for aid focused on poverty alleviation- increased to 53.6% of country-specific bilateral ODA (£1.6bn) in 2024 – a positive development after the share of country-specific bilateral ODA to LDCs fell below 50% in 2023. At the same time, this is still significantly less than the £2bn (59% of the total) disbursed to this group of countries in 2020.

The percentage share of ODA to upper-middle income countries fell, but still went up slightly in total terms. Ukraine, Afghanistan and Ethiopia remained the top three ODA recipient countries, and Sudan and Palestine moved into the top 10 in 2024 – countries that the government set out as priorities.

Most sectors, including humanitarian aid, health and education, saw an increase in bilateral ODA in 2024. Whilst in-donor refugee costs (IDRCs) fell notably from £4.3bn (27.9% of total ODA) to £2.8bn (20.1%) in 2024, it remained the largest sectoral recipient in 2024.

Although it is vital that the government provides support for refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, we have long argued that the resources for this  should come from elsewhere in the budget. While the government has committed to continue working to bring down the level of ODA spent within the UK, a change in the FCDO’s status as the ‘spender and saver of last resort’ leaves ambiguity around whether savings from reductions such as this will automatically be returned to the FCDO for life-saving overseas programmes.  

What does this mean in the context of the cuts?

The cuts to the aid budget announced in February 2025 put a dampner on any positive trends we have seen in the SIDs for 2024. While we are still waiting to see where the bigger cuts from 2026/27 onwards fall, the FCDO Annual Report from July showed where the first round of cuts hit – and those in the poorest countries and who need it the most will bear the brunt of it.

While the 2024 SIDs showed an increase in funding to Africa, we know from the FCDO Annual Report 2024/25 that Africa and Middle East and North-Africa are the only two regions that will see a reduction in bilateral aid this year. This is worrying, given the levels of poverty and humanitarian needs in these regions.

Similarly, although Education saw an increase in 2024, the FCDO Annual Report shows that the FCDO’s Education, Gender & Equality division will see its budget cut by 42% in 2025/26, with the Girls’ Education Department being particularly hard hit, with a 51% reduction.

An equality impact assessment (EIA), published alongside the FCDO Annual Report, stated that “where there are reductions to planned bilateral spend, this will have negative impacts on equalities.” However, this EIA lacks sufficient detail to truly understand the impact of the aid cuts and how this informed the government’s allocation decision.

What does this mean for the upcoming cuts?

With the trends from the SIDs for 2024 being derailed by the aid cuts, what we foremost urgently need to see is a breakdown of the cuts planned from 2026/27 onwards, accompanied and informed by an equality impact assessment. We expect those to be published later in the year.

It is important that decisions on the upcoming cuts reverse some of the worrying trends created by the 25/26 cuts. It is therefore crucial that the remaining ODA budget is focused on maximising the reduction of poverty and inequality, guided by the principle to ‘leave no one behind’.

Any decisions on cuts must be evidenced and informed by an impact assessment, which can’t be a tick-box exercise that is undertaken after decisions on the cuts are made. Impact assessments must also be published in a transparent and detailed manner to fully allow us to understand and scrutinise these decisions.

At a time when the UK government is rethinking its international partnership and place on the global stage, the government could further signal a clear signal that poverty and inequality reduction remain at the heart of the UK’s development vision, by confirming that any savings made on IDRC are automatically returned to the FCDO to support life-saving overseas programmes.