US Trump-era cuts trigger record 23% plunge in OECD development aid for 2025

OECD preliminary figures reveal a 23% decline in international development assistance between 2024 and 2025, the steepest annual fall recorded since the organization began tracking aid.

The United States was the primary catalyst, with its official development assistance slashing nearly 57% in 2025, a reduction that accounts for roughly three‑quarters of the overall drop.

Total aid from the 34 DAC members fell from $214.6 billion to $174.3 billion. American contributions shrank from about $63 billion in 2024 to just under $29 billion the following year, according to the OECD.

Other major donors—including Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and France—also trimmed their budgets, and only eight DAC countries managed to meet or exceed their 2024 levels.

The cuts arrive at a time of heightened global economic and food‑security uncertainty, exacerbated by the ongoing US‑Israeli conflict with Iran.

OECD official Carsten Staur described the plunge as “deeply concerning,” urging donors to reverse the trend as humanitarian needs surge. Oxfam’s Development Finance Lead Didier Jacobs warned that wealthy governments are “turning their backs on millions of lives in the Global South” by cutting life‑saving aid while funding conflict.

Academic research links the U.S. reductions to a rise in armed conflict across Africa, with the Center for Global Development estimating that the cuts could have caused between 500,000 and 1,000,000 excess deaths in 2025. A Lancet analysis warns that continuing the downward trajectory may result in **over 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030**.

Under President Trump, the United States has dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and pursued a handful of bilateral agreements with African nations that tie aid to mineral access and health data. Simultaneously, the administration is seeking a historic $1.5 trillion military budget for FY2027** and between **$80 billion and $200 billion** for the Iran‑Israel war effort.

Analysts and NGOs are calling on DAC members to restore aid levels and reinforce the global humanitarian system, which they say faces its most serious crisis in decades.