Development Co‑operation Profiles: Netherlands
Table of contents
The Netherlands’ development co-operation is recognised for its focus on food security, water, health and the rule of law; its strong learning culture; and its continued engagement in fragile contexts. In 2025, the government redefined the objective and scope of Dutch co-operation policy, redirecting it towards its national interests of trade, security and migration and focusing it on its key areas of strength: water management, food security and health. The Netherlands’ total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 7.7 billion, preliminary data) decreased in 2025, representing 0.58% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on the Netherlands’ development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
In April 2026, the Netherlands published a new foreign policy letter, stating that diplomacy, trade, development co-operation and defence will be used more coherently to promote the Netherlands’ security, prosperity and values. Development co-operation is framed as part of equal partnerships with countries in the Global South, with a focus on security and stability, migration and displacement, trade and the economy, democratisation and good governance, women’s rights, humanitarian assistance, global health, climate and vocational education. Civil society organisations are recognised as important partners in achieving foreign policy objectives.
The Netherlands sees its multilateral engagement as a means to advance its policy priorities on the core themes of food security, water management and health, particularly with international financial institutions. At the same time, the new development aid policy announced reductions of about 50% in core contributions to the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Development Programme – among the Netherlands’ largest multilateral recipients in 2024. The Netherlands is among the few Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members with dedicated policy coherence mechanisms to reduce negative spillovers from Dutch policies on developing countries, including a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) test for new legislation. The Netherlands is a leader in responsible business conduct.
The 2023 OECD-DAC Peer Review found that the Netherlands had fully or partially implemented all 16 recommendations of the 2017 Peer Review. The review praised the Netherlands for its focus on its strengths, engagement in fragile contexts and support to civil society. It also highlighted Dutch efforts to tackle the negative effects of its domestic policies on developing countries. The review recommended that the Netherlands step up its locally led development efforts, adapt its thematic focus to the partner country context and clarify its risk appetite. The review stressed the importance of managing the effects of in-donor refugee costs on the budgeting of other co-operation activities. The Netherlands’ next mid-term review is scheduled for the end of 2026.
Discover insights from the Netherlands’ 2023 Peer Review and learn from Netherlands’ practices in Development Cooperation Tools Insights Practices.
The Netherlands provided USD 7.7 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2025 (USD 7.2 billon in constant terms), representing 0.58% of GNI.1 This was a decrease of 4.9% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2024. ODA volume has been fluctuating around 0.6% of ODA/GNI on average over the past ten years. The 2025 development aid policy announced a structural reduction in ODA spending of EUR 2.4 billion, starting in 2027. The cuts are expected to reduce the ODA/GNI ratio to 0.44% by 2029, compared to 0.66% under previous budget plans, meaning that the Netherlands is not in line to meet its domestic and EU commitment to achieve a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. In 2024, total ODA on a grant-equivalent basis has the same value as net ODA under the cash-flow methodology used in the past, as the Netherlands provides only grants.
In 2025, the Netherlands ranked 7th among DAC members in terms of ODA volume and 5th when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. The Netherlands stands out for its commitment to environmental issues. It allocates the highest share of bilateral allocable ODA commitments in support of climate adaptation (52.1%) and is among top DAC members for the share in support of environment equality (58.1%). In 2024, the Netherlands is the DAC member with the highest share of gross bilateral ODA disbursements to fragile contexts given to the peace pillar of the HDP Nexus (30.9%) and among top DAC members for the share of gross bilateral ODA channelled to and through civil society organisations (CSOs). Almost all Dutch ODA is reported as untied.
The Netherlands is committed to several international targets and DAC standards and recommendations. Learn more about DAC Recommendations.
Notes: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.
The Netherlands provided most of its ODA bilaterally in 2024. Gross bilateral ODA was 69.5% of total ODA disbursements. Of this, 27.5% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, the Netherlands provided USD 3.7 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 6% in real terms from 2023. Of this, USD 2.3 billion was core multilateral ODA (30.5% of total ODA), while USD 1.4 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 47.6% of the Netherlands’ non-core contributions, and 52.4% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
In 2024, top recipients of the Netherlands’ contribution to multilateral organisations were the European Union institutions, the World Bank Group and the UN system. The UN system received 35.6% of the Netherlands’ contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 740.4 million (55.7%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 1.3 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of the Netherlands’ support (core and earmarked contributions) were United Nations Children's Fund (USD 174.9 million), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (USD 162 million) and the United Nations Development Programme (USD 122.8 million).
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 by exploring the DAC members’ use of the multilateral system dashboard.
In 2024, the Netherlands’ bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 5.2 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 3.2% in real terms from 2023.
In 2024, country programmable aid amounted to USD 1.3 billion, or 25.8% of the Netherlands’ gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 46.5%.
the Netherlands’ in-donor refugee costs amounted to USD 1.4 billion (26.4% of gross bilateral ODA) in 2024, while humanitarian aid was USD 237.3 million, or 5.4% of gross bilateral ODA.
In 2024, the Netherlands channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through public sector, multilateral organisations and NGOs. Technical co-operation made up 6.2% of gross ODA in 2024.
In 2024, CSOs received USD 1.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 11.2% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 2.6% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 19.4% was channelled through CSOs to implement projects initiated by the provider (earmarked funding). From 2023 to 2024, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs increased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 21.7% to 21.9%.
Learn more by reading the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid and by exploring the ODA to civil society organisations dashboard.
In 2024, the Netherlands’ bilateral ODA primarily focused on countries in Africa. USD 954.4 million was allocated to countries in Africa and USD 243.1 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 90.6% was for Ukraine), accounting respectively for 18.2% and 4.6% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 146.1 million was allocated to Middle East. Countries in Africa were also the main regional recipient of the Netherlands’ earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, in line with its policy focus in recent years.
In 2024, 14.1% of gross bilateral ODA went to the Netherlands’ top 10 recipients. With the notable exception of Ukraine, its top 10 recipients are mainly in Africa, where the Netherlands has focused its co‑operation, notably on low-income countries. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 79.6%. This high level is due to multi-country and regional programmes managed from headquarters that are not reported by the recipient country as well as expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries (33.2% of unallocated ODA).
In 2024, the Netherlands allocated 0.11% of its GNI to the least developed countries (LDCs). The Netherlands allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (11.6%) to least developed countries in 2024 (equal to USD 607.3 million), noting that 79.6% was unallocated by income group. Additionally, the Netherlands allocated 8% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2024, equal to USD 416.1 million.
The distribution of the Netherlands’ ODA in net terms in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”2 was USD 1.5 in LDCs, USD 2.3 in lower middle-income countries and USD 2.8 in upper middle-income countries.
In 2025, the Netherlands provided USD 263.7 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion, an 11.5% increase from 2024 in real terms. USD 96 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2025, an 82.5% increase in real terms from 2024.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 699.4 million in 2024, representing 13.4% of the Netherlands’ gross bilateral ODA. Of this ODA, 3.2% was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, an increase from 1.5% in 2023, while 30.9% was allocated to peace, a decrease from 31.5% in 2023. Conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, represented 7.5% of gross bilateral ODA, increasing from 7.2% in 2023.
Learn more about the States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest focus of the Netherlands’ bilateral ODA was other macro sectors, in particular refugees in provider countries. Investments in this area accounted for 42.7% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 1.9 billion), with a strong focus on support to refugees in donor countries (USD 1.4 billion), administrative costs of donors (USD 439.8 million) and unallocated / unspecified (USD 48.7 million). ODA for social infrastructure and services totalled USD 1.4 billion, with a focus on government and civil society (USD 892.1 million). Production sectors amounted to USD 336.9 million (7.7% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on social sectors and other macro sectors in 2024.
In the period 2023-2024, the Netherlands committed 81.6% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment compared to 84.4% in 2021-2022 and a DAC average of 48.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 2.8 billion of screened bilateral allocable ODA in support of gender equality on average per year. In addition:
The share of screened bilateral allocable ODA committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 23.9% in 2023-2024, compared with the DAC average of 4.2%.
The Netherlands includes gender equality objectives in 76% of ODA for humanitarian aid, above the 2023-2024 DAC average of 21.5%.
The Netherlands screens all bilateral allocable ODA against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2023-2024).
The Netherlands committed USD 14.1 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls, and USD 10 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements, and government institutions on average per year in 2023-2024.
Learn more by reading the DAC Recommendation on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation, and by exploring the development finance for gender equality dashboard.
In 2023-2024, the Netherlands committed 58.1% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 1.9 billion) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, up from 46.9% in 2021-2022. The DAC average was 39%. In addition:
5.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11.2%.
56.7% of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 1.9 billion) focused on climate change overall (the DAC average was 35.4%), up from 44.8% in 2021-2022. The Netherlands had a greater focus on adaptation (52.1%) than on mitigation (23.6%) in 2023-2024.
13.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 455.8 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the DAC average was 8.6%), up from 10.6% in 2021-2022.
3.3% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 112.8 million) focused on desertification overall (the DAC average was 4.2%), up from 1.9% in 2021-2022.
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
In 2024, the Netherlands:
Allocated 4.9% of its bilateral ODA (USD 258.3 million) to core poverty-reducing sectors as defined by SDG 1.a.1. This indicator captures grants to basic social services (such as basic health and education, water supply and sanitation, multisector aid for basic social services) and development food aid. In addition, 0.2% of the Netherlands’ bilateral ODA (USD 9.6 million) went to social protection support. Learn more by exploring the Reducing poverty and inequalities through ODA data explainer.
Committed USD 5.3 million (0.2% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to address the immediate or underlying determinants of malnutrition in developing countries across a variety of sectors, such as health.
Committed USD 15.1 million (0.6% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to the mobilisation of domestic resources in developing countries. Regarding the payment of local tax and customs duties for ODA-funded goods and services, the Netherlands does not typically seek exemptions and makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.
Committed USD 508.8 million (19.8% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to promote aid for trade and improve developing countries’ trade performance and integration into the world economy in 2024. Learn more by exploring the Aid for Trade dashboard.
In 2024, total official and private flows from the Netherlands to developing countries amounted to USD ‑9.3 billion in net terms. Official sources accounted for USD 6.3 billion, while USD ‑15.7 billion3 originated from private sources.
To help build markets in developing countries and incentivise greater mobilisation of private resources for development, many providers, including the Netherlands, have established development finance institutions and similar vehicles that extend private sector instruments (PSI). Access to Energy Fund (AEF), Building Prospects (BP), the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD), the Dutch Good Growth Fund – Investing in Local Economies (DGGF1), the Dutch Good Growth Fund – Financing Local SMEs (DGGF2) and MASSIF were assessed as ODA-eligible PSI vehicles. PSI represented 0.9% of the Netherlands’ ODA in 2024 while the DAC average stood at 1.9%.
In 2024, AEF, BP, DFCD, DGGF1, DGGF2 and MASSIF extended USD 243.6 million in the form of PSI to developing countries.4 Of this, loans accounted for 79.2% whereas equities accounted for 16.7%. Other private sector instruments included mezzanine finance instruments.
In 2024, USD 23 million (9.5%) of the Netherlands’ private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs). By contrast, 67.5% was received by middle-income countries, notably lower middle-income countries (45.1%). USD 56.2 million was unallocated by income. The Netherlands’ PSI primarily supported projects in the banking and financial services (53.9%) and agriculture, forestry, fishing (16.3%) sectors.
The Netherlands uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2024, the Netherlands’ FMO mobilised USD 653.3 million from the private sector through syndicated loans, shares in collective investment vehicles and direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles. This constituted a 26.1% increase compared to 2023.
Private finance mobilised by the Netherlands in 2023-2024 mainly targeted middle-income countries, representing 79.8% of its total mobilised. Only 3.2% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs), noting that 17% was unallocated by income.
Mobilised private finance by the Netherlands in 2023-2024 related mainly to activities in banking and financial services (48.7%), as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 57.2% of the Netherlands’ total mobilised private finance was for climate action.
Learn more by exploring the Mobilisation of private finance for development dashboard.
Total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) is an international statistical standard that monitors and increases the transparency of all official and officially supported resources for financing the SDGs received by developing countries (Pillar 1) and for addressing global challenges (Pillar 2). In 2024, activities reported by the Netherlands as TOSSD totalled USD 7.8 billion, marking a 1% decrease compared with the previous year.5 6 The Netherlands’ TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG 13 (climate action).
Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a dedicated Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, is responsible for the Netherlands’ development co-operation policy and management. Within the ministry, the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) steers the bulk of the ODA budget, directly delegating a small share to embassies. Key implementing institutions, notably for private sector engagement, are the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Development Bank FMO (a public‑private partnership, with 51% of shares held by the Dutch state) and Invest International (a joint venture of the state and the FMO). However, the Netherlands does not report the different government channels disbursing ODA. The Foreign, Trade and Development Committee in the Dutch parliament oversees development co-operation.
The DGIS has around 300 staff at headquarters and another 300 in embassies in focus countries, around half of which are local staff.
An important mechanism for consulting stakeholders is the so-called Dutch diamond approach, thematic multi-stakeholder partnerships bringing together the government, the private sector, companies, CSOs and research institutions. CSOs active in development co-operation, humanitarian assistance and global citizenship education co-ordinate under the umbrella body Partos.
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development placed a renewed emphasis on strengthening the effectiveness of all forms of development co-operation by upholding and elevating the Effectiveness Principles. Adherence to these principles is measured through the partner country-led monitoring exercise of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC).
Notes: The global aggregate results of the 4th GPEDC monitoring round (2023-2026) will be published in the forthcoming 2026 GPEDC Global Monitoring Report. Learn more about partner countries’ participation, progress and country-specific results by exploring the GPEDC Global Dashboard. CRS: Creditor Reporting System; IATI: International Aid Transparency Initiative.
Internal systems and processes help ensure the delivery of the Netherlands’ development co-operation. The table below highlights select features.
Access the full list of development co-operation providers at: Development Co-operation Profiles.
2023 OECD-DAC Peer Review of the Netherlands: https://doi.org/10.1787/67b0a326-en.
CSO platform Partos: https://www.partos.nl/en.
Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO): https://www.fmo.nl.
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Development Cooperation: https://www.government.nl/themes/international-cooperation/development
The Netherlands has been a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since 1960.
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 ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
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← 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. Aid per person in extreme poverty is calculated by dividing net ODA (bilateral and imputed multilateral) by the population in extreme poverty in each country. It estimates how much ODA each person in extreme poverty would receive if total ODA was divided evenly among the extreme poor. This metric does not measure the amount of ODA actually received by each person in extreme poverty, nor does it measure how much ODA goes to poverty reduction. It instead highlights patterns in total ODA allocations relative to the number of people living in extreme poverty in each country. Group averages are calculated based on a weighted average of aid per person in extreme poverty and the number of people in extreme poverty for each country in the group. See the methodological notes for further details.
← 3. This is due to the influence of a large negative value for foreign direct investment and other private flows at market terms as seen in the chart.
← 4. In 2023, the DAC agreed on revised reporting methods for measuring PSI in ODA based on ODA grant equivalents. Members may, however, take up to two years to transition to the new methods, with their PSI continuing to be accounted for on a net ODA basis during the transition period.
← 5. This amount does not include mobilised private finance by the Netherlands.
← 6. The Netherlands does not actively report on TOSSD. Yet, the Netherlands has an agreement with the TOSSD Secretariat for them to use the CRS reporting as a proxy for TOSSD.