Development Co-operation Profiles

Sweden

Introduction

Sweden is an ambitious and influential actor in sustainable development. It is committed to making its development assistance more focused, relevant, effective and transparent. Sweden focuses on Ukraine, humanitarian support, democracy, climate action, gender equality, trade and migration. Its development co-operation focuses on poverty reduction and sub-Saharan Africa. Sweden’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 5.6 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2023, representing 0.91% of gross national income (GNI).

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

Sweden’s reform agenda for development assistance was presented on 14 December 2023. The agenda, Development Assistance for a New Era – Freedom, Empowerment and Sustainable Growth, outlines a new direction for Swedish development assistance. Sweden’s thematic priorities include poverty reduction through job creation, trade and education; health; effective climate funding; protecting freedom; women’s and girls’ empowerment; and synergies between development assistance and migration policy. It also provides a starting point for several new processes to simplify, clarify and streamline the management and follow-up of development assistance as a whole and improve the results achieved.

Sweden has traditionally been a strong supporter of the multilateral system. The new reform agenda seeks to increase the impact of Swedish support on the European Union (EU), United Nations (UN) and international financial institutions. It also envisions increased support for civil society and more catalytic public-private partnerships. To enhance policy coherence for sustainable development, Sweden requires all ministries to develop action plans on their global contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Poverty and inequality reduction focus

Sweden’s approach to poverty and inequality reduction focuses on multi-dimensional poverty and gender-based inequality. Sweden’s multi-dimensional understanding of poverty encompasses resources, opportunities and choice, power and voice, and human security. The Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency’s (Sida) country offices are expected to conduct multi-dimensional poverty analyses to inform their country strategies and programming cycle. This is a well-established approach to conceptualising and analysing poverty in different country contexts. The government’s 2023 “reform agenda” for Swedish ODA reaffirms Sweden’s high-level commitment to poverty reduction but does not explicitly mention the various and cross-cutting dimensions of its poverty and inequality priorities.

Findings from OECD-DAC reviews

The OECD-DAC mid-term review, published in 2023, acknowledged Sweden’s effective and efficient development co-operation system, which benefits form high-calibre staff, and encouraged Sweden to retain and build on these strengths. It encouraged Sweden to ensure that its ODA spending is based on clear criteria, is well co-ordinated with other actors, remains poverty-focused and is supported by responsible exit strategies to make the most of Sweden’s long-term investments and partnerships. The mid-term review noted that Sweden had made progress on eight of the nine recommendations of its 2019 peer review, with limited progress on one. The next OECD-DAC peer review of Sweden is planned for 2026. Learn more about Sweden’s 2023 mid-term review [DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/18] and 2019 peer review.

ODA allocation overview

Sweden provided USD 5.6 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 5.6 billion in constant terms) representing 0.91% of GNI.1 This was an increase of 2.1% in real terms in volume and an increase in the share of GNI from 2022. Sweden was the first country to meet the UN target of allocating 0.7% of GNI to ODA in 1975, and its allocation has remained consistently above this threshold since then.. In a departure from its 2006 target of providing 1% of GNI to ODA, Sweden budgeted for ODA to represent 0.88% of the projected GNI for the years 2023-25. Sweden continues to surpass and remain committed, at the European level, to collectively achieving a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Sweden is in line with its domestic (0.88% between 2023-2025) and international/EU commitments to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Within Sweden’s ODA portfolio in 2022, 97.8% was provided in the form of grants and 2.2% in the form of non-grants.2

In 2023, Sweden ranked 3rd among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member countries when ODA is taken as a share of GNI and 10th among DAC members in terms of ODA volume. In-donor refugee costs were capped at 10.8% of Sweden’s gross bilateral ODA. The increase of in-donor refugee costs in 2022 means that shares of bilateral ODA allocated to other areas may have decreased from 2021 to 2022 even when absolute volumes have not. Sweden remains a strong supporter of the UN system and ranks 2^nd out of the DAC members in the allocations to the UN (core and non-core) as a percentage of gross ODA to multilateral organisations. Among DAC members, it still has one of the highest levels of ODA channelled to civil society organisations (CSOs) at 31.6% of bilateral ODA.

 

Notes: Data on official development assistance (ODA) volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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Sweden is committed to several international targets and Development Assistance Committee standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC recommendations.

Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)	0.7	0.91	0.89	0.91
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.32	0.28
Share of untied ODA covered by the DAC Recommendation	100	95.7	97.2
Share of untied ODA (All sectors and countries beyond the scope of the Untying Recommendation) (%)		89.9	91.9
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	100	100

Note: ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee. This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations.

Sweden provided a higher share of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 64.3% of total ODA disbursements. Thirty-four per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). Sweden allocated 35.7% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, Sweden provided USD 238.8 million (preliminary data) of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression, a 15.2% increase from 2022 in real terms. USD 116.6 million of the amount was allocated to humanitarian assistance, a 23.1% increase from 2022.

 

Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, Sweden provided USD 3.2 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a marginal increase of 0.2% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 2 billion was core multilateral ODA, while USD 1.2 billion was non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. Project-type funding earmarked for a specific theme and/or country accounted for 23.2% of Sweden’s non-core contributions and 76.8% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Seventy-one per cent of Sweden’s total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to the UN system, and EU institutions.

 

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The United Nations system received 54% of Sweden’s multilateral contributions, of which USD 931.7 million (54.1%) was through earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 1.7 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Sweden’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the WFP (USD 251.7 million), UNICEF (USD 216.6 million) and UNDP (USD 212.3 million).

 

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See the section Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, Sweden’s bilateral spending marginally declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 3.6 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 0.2% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 40.9% of Sweden’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 42%. In-donor refugee costs were USD 386.4 million in 2022, an increase of 384.9% in real terms over 2021, and represented 10.8% of Sweden’s total gross bilateral ODA.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Sweden channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through multilateral organisations (34.3%) and NGOs (31.6%). Technical co-operation made up 5.3% of gross ODA in 2022.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations received USD 1.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 10.3% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 5.5% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 26.1% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the donor (earmarked funding). From 2021 to 2022, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 34.8% to 31.6%. Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, Sweden’s bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Africa. USD 1.1 billion was allocated to Africa and USD 360.1 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 57.2% for Ukraine), accounting respectively for 32% and 10.1% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 298.9 million was allocated to Asia. Africa was also the main regional recipient of Sweden’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 24.5% of gross bilateral ODA went to Sweden’s top 10 recipients. Whilst Ukraine is Sweden’s top recipient, seven out of ten of the top recipients are in Africa. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 47.8%, of which 22.6% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.

 

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In 2022, Sweden allocated 0.28% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). Sweden allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (29.6%) to least developed countries in 2022, noting that 47.8% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, Sweden allocated 17.5% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 621.7 million. Sweden allocated 0.5% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2022, equal to USD 17.4 million.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support to fragile contexts was USD 1.3 billion in 2022, representing 36.9% of Sweden’s gross bilateral ODA. Thirty-one per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, increasing from 29.1% in 2021, while 22.6% was allocated to peace, increasing from 21.9% in 2021. Six per cent went to conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, representing an increase from 5% in 2021. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, the largest focus of Sweden’s bilateral ODA was social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 38.4% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 1.2 billion) with a strong focus on support to government and civil society (USD 847.8 million), other social infrastructure and services (USD 136.4 million) and health and population (USD 124.7 million), which accounted for 3.9% of gross bilateral ODA, and decreased 44.3% from 2019 in real terms.

ODA for other sectors totalled USD 1 billion, focusing on refugees in donor countries (USD 384.4 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 546.3 million (16.9% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations focused also on social infrastructure and services and humanitarian assistance in 2022.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, Sweden disbursed USD 113.5 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 315.4 million in 2021. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Sweden provided USD 32.1 million in ODA for donations of doses to developing countries in 2022, down 14.5% from USD 37.5 million in 2021. Of this amount, USD 31.9 million accounted for donation of doses from domestic supply in 2022, a 15% decrease from USD 37.5 million in 2021.

Gender equality

In the period 2021-22, Sweden committed 72% of its screened bilateral allocable aid to gender equality and women’s empowerment, as either a principal or significant objective (down from 76.7% in 2019-20), compared with the 2021-22 DAC average of 43.3%. This is equal to USD 2 billion of bilateral ODA in support of gender equality. Unpacking the gender equality data further:

• The share of screened bilateral allocable aid committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 8.7% in 2021-22, compared with the DAC average of 3.9%.

• Sweden includes gender equality objectives in 68.8% of its ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2021-22 DAC average of 17%.

• Sweden screens the majority of their bilateral allocable aid activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (92.4% in 2021-22).

• Sweden committed USD 41.9 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls and USD 57.7 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements and government institutions in 2021-22.

Learn more about Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: DAC Guidance for Development Partners and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.

 

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Environment

In 2021-22, Sweden committed 45.2% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.2 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (the DAC average was 35.1%), up from 33.7% in 2019-20. Unpacking the environmental data further:

• Seventeen per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11%.

• Twenty-six per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 695.7 million) focused on climate change overall, down from 26.3% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 30.5%). Sweden had a greater focus on adaptation (24.7%) than on mitigation (14.3%) in 2021-22.

• Fourteen per cent of screened bilateral allocable aid (USD 342.6 million) focused on biodiversity overall, up from 13.9% in 2019-20 (the DAC average was 7.2%).

Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change [DAC/CHAIR(2021)1/FINAL].

 

Note: In this figure, the category climate includes climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation efforts.

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Performance against environment and Rio Markers, 2021-2022

Marker	Constant 2022 USD million	% of bilateral allocable
Environment	1 143.8	46.9
Rio markers:
Biodiversity	342.6	14.1
Desertification	124.2	5.1
Climate change mitigation only	96.4	3.6
Climate change adaptation only	347	13.1
Both climate change mitigation and adaptation	252.2	9.5

Note: Individual Rio Markers should not be added up as this can result in double counting.

The OECD initiative Sustainable Oceans for All shows that Sweden committed USD 46.5 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2022, USD 3.4 million less than in 2021. The 2022 value is equivalent to 1.8% of Sweden’s bilateral allocable aid.

Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, Sweden also:

• Committed USD 11 million of bilateral ODA to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries, amounting to 0.4% of its bilateral allocable aid. Regarding the payment of local tax and customs duties for ODA-funded goods and services, Sweden sometimes seeks exemptions. It does not have a general policy and it makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.

• Committed USD 412.8 million (15.8% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy.

• Committed USD 1.9 million (0.1% of its bilateral allocable aid) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as health.

• Committed USD 498.3 million (19% of its bilateral allocable aid) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

Mobilised private finance

Sweden uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2022, Sweden’s SwedFund and Sida mobilised USD 736 million from the private sector through guarantees, shares in CIVs and simple co-financing. This constituted a 40.3% increase compared to 2021.

 

Note: CIV: collective investment vehicle; SPV: special purpose vehicle.

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A share of 17.9% targeted middle-income countries, while 6.2% went to LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs) in 2021-22, noting that 75.9% was unallocated by income.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Mobilised private finance by Sweden in 2021-22 related mainly to activities in energy (48.2%), as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 73.1% of Sweden’s total mobilised private finance was for climate action.

Private sector instruments

In 2022, Sweden’s Swedfund extended USD 91.1 million in the form of private sector instruments (PSI) to developing countries. Of this, loans accounted for 35.2% and equities for 64.8%.

 

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In 2022, USD 0.4 million (0.4%) of Sweden’s private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other LICs, while 38.3% went to middle-income countries and LMICs in particular (21.3%). Moreover, USD 55.8 million were unallocated by income. Sweden’s private sector instruments mostly supported projects in the banking and financial services (61.9%) and energy (17.6%).

 

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Effectiveness of development co-operation

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation monitoring exercise tracks the implementation of the effectiveness commitments. Following the reform of the exercise over 2020-22, the 4th global monitoring round (2023-26) is underway. Information on partner countries’ participation in the exercise as well as their progress is available at the Global Dashboard. Sweden’s results from the 2016 and 2018 monitoring rounds can be found here.

To help improve the transparency of development co-operation, the OECD provides regular feedback to members on the overall quality of their statistical reporting and works with each member to ensure the data meet high quality standards before they are published. Regarding DAC/CRS reporting to the OECD, Sweden’s reporting in 2022 was on time and complete, with some areas to improve in terms of the accuracy of the data.

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors all official and officially supported resources for financing the SDGs in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. It provides a broad measure of development finance with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive. In 2022, activities reported by Sweden as TOSSD totalled USD 5.8 billion, down from USD 6.3 billion in 2021, and Sweden’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, and SDG 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) oversees Sweden’s development co-operation policy and the related budget. Within the MFA, the Department for International Development co-ordinates, although nearly all departments are involved. The MFA is also responsible for managing the government agencies that implement development co-operation. Sida is the largest implementing agency. The other five main ODA implementation agencies are Swedfund, the Swedish Institute, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Co-ordination between the MFA and Sida is particularly close, and Sweden is working on improving co-ordination with the other implementing agencies. Sida provides country-level staff with a high degree of delegated programme and financial authority to design and adapt programmes to the local context.

 

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An important mechanism for consulting stakeholders is the Swedish Leadership for Sustainable Development network, comprising 26 Swedish companies and institutions, which serves as a forum for knowledge exchange and collaboration. Another is the Forum for Public Agencies, a yearly national forum hosted by Sida for knowledge exchange and collaboration between government agencies working with development co-operation. The government and Swedish civil society’s joint commitments to strengthen dialogue and collaboration in the area of development co-operation provide the foundation for the Swedish government’s approach to consulting with Swedish civil society in the policy process. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body ForumCiv (formerly Forum Syd).

Quality and oversight

Internal systems and processes help ensure the effective delivery of Sweden’s development co-operation. Select features are shown in the table below.

Features of Sweden’s systems for quality and oversight

Quality assurance	Sida’s quality control measures operate at three levels: 1) operational department; 2) cross-departmental in the form of internal controls and budget and regulatory follow-ups; and 3) the director level in the form of an independent audit function. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has increased staff capacity for financial controls and quality assurance for development co-operation.
Risk management	Staff must identify risks earlier in the programme cycle to prioritise high-impact risks and those that are highly likely to occur. Sweden’s approach to corruption risks includes support to partners – developing countries and implementing partners – to improve their corruption risk management systems and institutions.
Innovation and adaptation	Sida is a pioneer in using challenge funds and market-shaping programmes that feature diverse innovations, including partnerships with others on systems innovation via a Systems Innovation Learning Partnership and the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation 2.0. Sida also funds the Global Innovation Fund.
Results management	Sweden’s strong focus on results includes strengthening relationships with partner countries and balancing accountability and flexibility for better results. Sweden aligns its results-based management with its focus on adaptive programming, for example, by promoting partner-led evaluations and using evaluation findings to strengthen institutional learning.
Evaluation	Sida and the Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA) are the government bodies in charge of evaluation. Sida’s Unit for Evaluation has a dual mandate of supporting the agency’s various units for decentralised independent evaluations as well as for independent and strategic evaluations. The EBA is a government committee that evaluates and analyses the direction, governance and implementation of Sweden’s official development assistance. Read more about Sweden’s evaluation system. Visit the DAC Evaluation Resource Centre website for evaluations of Sweden’s development co-operation.
Knowledge management and learning	Sweden’s results-based approach is built on the need to constantly learn and adapt. Sida’s Unit for Learning and Organisational Development aims to foster leadership and a culture based on learning.
Communication and transparency	Sweden’s Strategy for Information and Communication Activities guides communication efforts to increase knowledge of Swedish development co-operation and advocate for the fight against poverty and fair and sustainable global development.

Additional resources

2023 OECD-DAC mid-term review of Sweden: DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/18

2019 OECD-DAC peer review of Sweden: http://www.oecd.org/dac/oecd-development-co-operation-peer-reviews-sweden-2019-9f83244b-en.htm

Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA): https://www.government.se/government-of-sweden/ministry-for-foreign-affairs

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida): https://www.sida.se/English

Swedfund: https://www.swedfund.se/en

Swedish Institute: https://si.se/en

Folke Bernadotte Academy: https://fba.se/en

Swedish Research Council: https://www.vr.se/english.html

Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency: https://www.msb.se/en

CSO umbrella organisation ForumCiv: https://www.forumciv.org/int

Sweden’s practices on the Development Co-operation TIPs: Tools Insights Practices learning platform: https://www.oecd.org/development-cooperation-learning?tag-key+partner=sweden#search

Member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1965.

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

Notes

← 1.  DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.

← 2.  Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.