The Largest Humanitarian Donors

Who is the world's largest humanitarian donor? From year to year, the numbers vary on how much money governments and supranational organizations contribute to global humanitarian emergencies. Some countries give much more than others, while many governments keep a low profile. But there were also some stable trends over several years up to 2025. Different calculations lead to slightly diverging results. DONARE's rankings are based on financial data provided by the United Nations.

Radical Cuts in Humanitarian Aid Funding

Global humanitarian funding has plummeted in 2025, largely due to extreme funding cuts by the United States, but other major donors such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden have also scaled back their support. While global funding has been declining since 2022, despite rising needs, this year's levels have fallen to record lows. As of August, the US is no longer the world's largest donor after it has eliminated most of its humanitarian funding and dismantled the world's largest government aid agency. Millions will die because of the brutal slashes in humanitarian aid. 

Long-Term Trends

  • The United States (US) was the world's leading international humanitarian donor. The United States was followed by the European Union (EU) in second place. The European Commission and the EU Member States together were the most important international donors of humanitarian aid after the United States.
  • Usually a different representation is chosen: If the European institutions (in particular the European Commission) are considered separately from the Member States, the picture was slightly different. In this case, the United States of America ranked first as the largest donor country, regularly followed by Germany as the second-largest donor of humanitarian aid. The institutions of the European Union ranked third among international donors. The European Commission and Germany sometimes alternated in second and third place.
  • The United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Japan usually made it into the top ten. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Switzerland and the Netherlands were also important humanitarian donors.
  • In terms of gross domestic product (GDP), Norway, Sweden, and Denmark stood out, as they invested an above-average percentage of GDP in international humanitarian aid. Among the larger countries, Germany was the world's leading donor in terms of GDP share.
  • The bulk of global humanitarian funding - more than 80 percent - was provided by just ten countries or international organizations.

OCHA Financial Tracking Service (FTS)

The United Nations (UN) are tracking humanitarian donor contributions channelled by governments through UN agencies, UN funds, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The system is called Financial Tracking Service (FTS) and provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Largest Donors of Humanitarian Aid in 2025

According to FTS data, as of October 2025, the European Commission is the top donor this year, followed by the United States in second place and Japan in third. However, the US's share of global funding has dropped sharply from over 40 percent in 2024 to approximately 13 percent thus far. Germany has fallen to fourth place, while the United Kingdom now ranks third. Sweden has dropped out of the top 10.

The ten largest governmental donors in 2025

  1. European Commission
  2. United States of America
  3. United Kingdom
  4. Germany
  5. Japan
  6. Saudi Arabia
  7. Canada
  8. Denmark
  9. Norway
  10. Netherlands

Largest Donors of Humanitarian Aid in 2024

According to FTS data, the United States ranked No. 1 as the largest donor country in 2024, followed by Germany in second place. The European Commission was the third-largest donor of humanitarian aid last year. The United Kingdom ranked fourth. Japan was lagging behind in seventh place.

The ten largest governmental donors in 2024

  1. United States of America
  2. Germany
  3. European Commission
  4. United Kingdom
  5. Sweden
  6. Saudi Arabia
  7. Japan
  8. Norway
  9. France
  10. United Arab Emirates

Largest Donors of Humanitarian Aid in 2023

According to FTS data, the U.S. ranked No. 1 as the largest donor country in 2023, followed by the Germany in second place. The European Commission was the third-largest donor of humanitarian aid. Japan ranked fourth. The United Kingdom dropped to eighth place.

The ten largest governmental donors in 2023

  1. United States of America
  2. Germany
  3. European Commission
  4. Japan
  5. Saudi Arabia
  6. Sweden
  7. Norway
  8. United Kingdom
  9. France
  10. United Arab Emirates

Largest Donors of Humanitarian Aid in 2022

According to FTS data, the U.S. ranked No. 1 as the largest donor country in 2022, followed by Germany, second place. The European Commission was the third-largest donor of humanitarian aid. The United Kingdom ranked fifth. Japan was in fourth place (up from seventh in 2021).

The ten largest governmental donors in 2022

  1. United States of America
  2. Germany
  3. European Commission
  4. Japan
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Canada
  7. Qatar
  8. Sweden
  9. Saudi Arabia
  10. Norway

Largest Donors of Humanitarian Aid in 2021

According to FTS data, the U.S. ranked No. 1 as the largest donor country in 2021, followed by Germany in second place. The European Commission was the third-largest donor of humanitarian aid. The UK was in fifth place (down from fourth in 2020); Saudi Arabia ranked fourth.

The ten largest governmental donors in 2021

  1. United States of America
  2. Germany
  3. European Commission
  4. Saudi Arabia
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Sweden
  7. Japan
  8. Canada
  9. Norway
  10. Qatar

Largest Donors of Humanitarian Aid in 2020

According to FTS data, the United States, Germany, and the European Commission were the top three donors in the year 2020. The United Kingdom ranked fourth.

The ten largest governmental donors in 2020

  1. United States of America
  2. Germany
  3. European Commission
  4. United Kingdom
  5. Japan
  6. Saudi Arabia
  7. Sweden
  8. Qatar
  9. Canada
  10. Norway

Please note:  These rankings were compiled by DONARE based on FTS data for 2020-2024 and preliminary data for 2025.

Further information

UN OCHA: Financial Tracking Service (FTS)
https://fts.unocha.org/

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