Development Co-operation Profiles

United Arab Emirates

Introduction

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a provider of development co-operation since 1971. The UAE’s development co-operation is guided by its foreign assistance policy and its ambitions to reduce poverty, enhance stability and peace, strengthen relationships, and foster trade and investment ties, contributing to global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Arab Emirates’ official development assistance (ODA) focuses on supporting fragile countries and contexts and is mostly channelled to bilateral country partnerships for development through multi-year programmes. The United Arab Emirates’ total ODA (USD 1.9 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2023, representing 0.37% of gross national income (GNI).1

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

In 2022, the United Arab Emirates updated its foreign assistance policy, which outlines its priorities across seven global themes (women and girls’ empowerment and protection; education; health; addressing climate change; food security; infrastructure development; and science, technology and innovation). The overarching objective of its development co-operation is to promote global peace and prosperity, with humanitarian aid also playing a central role in the country’s global sustainable development efforts. The United Arab Emirates is a proponent of the “beyond aid” agenda and is mobilising funds from other actors, notably the private sector and philanthropy.

The policy emphasises being “demand-driven” and collaboration with other development partners (i.e. bilateral providers, multilateral organisations, the private sector and domestic companies). It also focuses on the United Arab Emirates’ comparative advantages, a commitment to addressing neglected issues and under-supported communities, sustainability, and making aid transparent and focused on results.

The United Arab Emirates is currently focused on improving the effectiveness and impact of its activities, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation co-ordinating the activities of all of the country’s providers (for more details, see the institutional set-up section).

ODA allocation overview

The United Arab Emirates provided USD 1.9 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 1.8 billion in constant terms) representing 0.37% of GNI. This was an increase of 26.9% in real terms in volume and an increase in the share of GNI from 2022. The United Arab Emirates is not in line with its international commitment to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio. Within the United Arab Emirates’ ODA portfolio in 2022, 64.1% was provided in the form of grants and 35.9% in the form of non-grants.2

 

Note: Data on 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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Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)		0.40	0.28	0.37
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.20	0.16
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	57.1	48.8

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

The United Arab Emirates provided almost all its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 98.7% of total ODA disbursements. Nine per cent of gross bilateral ODA was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions). The United Arab Emirates allocated 1.3% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, the United Arab Emirates provided USD 13.7 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression, a 99.8% increase from 2022 in real terms. USD 13.7 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2023, a 100.9% 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, the United Arab Emirates provided USD 181.8 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a decrease of 56.9% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 24.8 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 157 million were non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. All United Arab Emirates’ non-core contributions were programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).

 

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Ninety five per cent of the United Arab Emirates’ total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to UN entities, World Bank Group and other multilateral organisations (in particular the Global Partnership for Education).

 

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The UN system received 56.4% of the United Arab Emirates’ multilateral contributions, mainly in the form of earmarked contributions (84.4% or USD 86.6 million). Out of a total volume of USD 102.6 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of the United Arab Emirates’ support (core and earmarked contributions) were the WFP (USD 64.7 million), the WHO (USD 13.7 million) and UNHCR (USD 9.4 million).

 

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See the section on 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, the United Arab Emirates’ bilateral spending increased compared to the previous year. It provided USD 1.8 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented an increase of 31.7% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 37.2% of the United Arab Emirates’ gross bilateral ODA, compared to a non-DAC country average of 47%.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, the United Arab Emirates channelled their bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector, followed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and multilateral organisations.

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 157.1 million of gross bilateral ODA, of which 87% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 2.3% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 6.3% 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 increased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 5.6% to 8.6%. 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, the United Arab Emirates’ bilateral ODA was primarily focused on the Middle East. USD 894.9 million was allocated to the Middle East and USD 480.5 million to Africa, accounting for 49.1% and 26.4% of gross bilateral ODA, respectively. USD 198.9 million was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East). Africa and the Middle East were also the main regional recipients of the United Arab Emirates’ earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 72.4% of gross bilateral ODA went to the United Arab Emirates’ top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are mainly in the Middle East and in Africa. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 10%.

 

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In 2022, least developed countries (LDCs) received 44.6% of the United Arab Emirates’ gross bilateral ODA. This represents 0.16% of the GNI of the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, 15.3% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2022, equal to USD 279.2 million. The United Arab Emirates allocated 2.7% of gross bilateral ODA to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2022, equal to USD 49.5 million. Ten per cent of gross bilateral ODA was unallocated by income group.

 

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 reached USD 970.5 million in 2022, representing 53.2% of the United Arab Emirates’ gross bilateral ODA. Around 23.5 per cent of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, decreasing from 51.8% 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 United Arab Emirates allocated USD 436.2 million to social infrastructure and services, representing 23.9% of bilateral ODA. Investments in this are mostly focused on health and population (USD 278.7 million) and education (USD 81.4 million). Concretely, the United Arab Emirates’ support for health and population in 2022 accounted for 15.3% of gross bilateral ODA, representing an increase of 135.6% from 2019 in real terms. Production sectors received USD 178.9 million (9.8%), while economic infrastructure and services USD 115.5 million (6.3%). General budget support amounted to USD 659.8 million, accounting for 36.2% of the United Arab Emirates bilateral ODA. USD 277.9 million (15.2%) was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance.

 

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ODA for COVID-19

In 2022, the United Arab Emirates disbursed USD 150.2 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, down from USD 278.3 million in 2021. In 2022, USD 90.2 million of this ODA was spent on vaccines purchased specifically for developing countries, with the remaining 60 million provided for other medical COVID-19 responses.

Environment

In 2021-22, 2.5% of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 16 million) focused on climate change overall, down from 4.8% in 2019-20. 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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Other cross-cutting sectors and themes

In 2022, the United Arab Emirates also committed USD 231.6 million (29.1% of its bilateral allocable aid) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2022.

Effectiveness of development co-operation

The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation monitoring exercise tracks the implementation of the effectiveness commitments. Following a reform of the exercise during the 2020-22, the 4th global monitoring round (2023-26) has resumed. Information on partner countries’ participation in the exercise as well as their progress can be followed at the Global Dashboard. More detailed results for the United Arab Emirates based on the 2016 and 2018 Monitoring Rounds can be found here. Monitoring profiles for other providers are available here.

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development 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 broader 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 the United Arab Emirates as TOSSD totalled USD 2.9 billion, up from USD 1.6 billion in 2021, and the United Arab Emirates’ TOSSD activities in support of sustainable development mostly targeted SDG 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss and SDG 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC) is responsible for setting policy, geographical and sectoral priorities for the United Arab Emirates’ development co-operation. In addition to its strategic role, it also identifies modalities and mechanisms for foreign aid distribution and implementation, and documents aid flows. The ministry co-ordinates the activities of all the country’s public donors, including the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), which is the major public fund in the UAE engaged in the country’s development co-operation. The ADFD engages also with the private sector, and private philanthropy.

 

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Additional resources

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC): https://www.mofaic.gov.ae/en

The UAE Foreign Assistance Policy:

https://www.mofa.gov.ae/en/The-Ministry/UAE-International-Development-Cooperation#:~:text=The%20fundamental%20purpose%20of%20UAE,investment%20ties%20with%20developing%20countries

The United Arab Emirates’ aid to foreign countries: https://www.mofaic.gov.ae/en/The-Ministry/UAE-International-Development-Cooperation/Annual-Foreign-Aid-Report

The United Arab Emirates has been a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 2014. It is also a member of the Arab Coordination Group and regularly participates in the Arab-DAC Dialogue on Development

The United Arab Emirates has been reporting to the OECD since 1970 and reporting activity-level data since 2010

The United Arab Emirates participated as an observer in the peer review of Germany in 2015

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.