The potential extent of UK ODA cuts
A tense time for international relations and the globally vulnerable.
The new UK Government reallocation of international aid could mean only around 0.15% Gross National Income (GNI) goes on overseas spending. Here are some quick calculations based on recent figures and the new UK foreign aid announcement.
Official development assistance (ODA) is foreign aid that is generally intended to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries, as well as global resilience.
The UK is decreasing its ODA budget to 0.3% GNI, down from the 0.5% figure of 2024, to reallocate these funds to the defence budget. This is a further cut from the 2021 change where the UK decreased from 0.7% (the UN target) to 0.5% due to COVID-19 costs.
But around half that 0.3% figure could be spent on UK hotels to house refugees, if we maintain the same spending as 2023.
This is not to say that we shouldn’t be helping refugees within UK borders, but to point out that actual UK foreign aid spending overseas is shockingly low compared to the UN target of 0.7% - a target the UK was party to since 1970.
This shortfall is especially concerning given:
🍽️ Rising global hunger.
🌦️ Increases in extreme weather.
💥 New and ongoing global conflicts
💸 Wider patterns of reductions in foreign aid.[^3]
It’s a tense space for international relations but also a time when many of the world’s vulnerable desperately need assistance. The UK should be doing more to support these overseas humanitarian efforts, as well as those nationally.