Development Co‑operation Profiles: Sweden
Table of contents
Sweden is an ambitious and influential actor in sustainable development, with a strong track record of delivering support for poverty reduction and a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Sweden is committed to making its development assistance more focused, relevant, effective and transparent. Swedish co‑operation is currently focused on Ukraine, humanitarian support, democracy, climate action, gender equality, trade and migration. Sweden’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 6 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2025, representing 0.85% of gross national income (GNI).
This profile presents verified data on Sweden’s development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
The government presented a reform agenda for Swedish development assistance 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, with a stronger focus on Ukraine and Swedish interests. 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. The reform agenda puts an emphasis on Team Sweden1 to increase synergies between development co-operation, trade and export promotion.
Sweden has traditionally been a strong supporter of the multilateral system. The 2024 Strategy for Sweden’s Global Development Cooperation seeks to increase the impact of Swedish support on European Union (EU), United Nations (UN) and international financial institutions. It also envisions increased support for civil society and more catalytic public-private partnerships.
The OECD-DAC mid-term review, published in 2023, acknowledged Sweden’s effective and efficient development co-operation system, which benefits from high-calibre staff, and encouraged Sweden to retain and build on these strengths. It also 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 underway and to be available by the end of 2026.
Discover insights from Sweden’s 2019 Peer Review and 2023 mid-term review, and learn from Sweden’s practices in Development Co-operation Tools Insights Practices.
Sweden provided USD 6 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2025 (USD 5.5 billion in constant terms), representing 0.85% of GNI.2 This was an increase of 9.6% in real terms in volume and an increase in the share of GNI from 2024. 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. Since 2022, Sweden dropped its target of providing 1% of GNI to ODA and has budgeted for ODA to represent 0.88% of the projected GNI for the years 2023‑2025. Sweden continues to surpass and remains committed, at the European level, to collectively achieving a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Total ODA on a grant-equivalent basis has the same value as net ODA under the cash-flow methodology used in the past, as Sweden provides only grants.
In 2025, Sweden ranked 10th among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members in terms of ODA volume and 3rd when ODA is taken as a share of GNI. Among DAC members, Sweden has one of the highest levels of ODA channelled to and through civil society organisations (CSOs) (33.2%). In 2024, Sweden had one of the highest levels of gross bilateral ODA allocated to Africa (32.2%) as well as to the least developed countries (LDCs) (30.1%). Sweden caps in-donor refugee costs at 8% of its ODA budget. In 2024, they represented 4.04% of gross bilateral ODA.
Sweden 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.
Sweden provided most of its ODA bilaterally in 2024. Gross bilateral ODA was 65.7% of total ODA disbursements. Of this, 42.2% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, Sweden provided USD 3 billion of gross ODA to the multilateral system, a fall of 17% in real terms from 2023. Of this, USD 1.7 billion was core multilateral ODA (34.3% of total ODA), while USD 1.3 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 23.1% of Sweden’s non-core contributions, and 76.9% was programmatic funding (to pooled funds and specific-purpose programmes and funds).
The United Nations (UN) system received 46.2% of Sweden’s contributions to multilateral organisations, of which USD 861.1 million (61.7%) represented earmarked contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 1.4 billion to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Sweden’s support (core and earmarked contributions) were the United Nations Children’s Fund (USD 195.1 million), the United Nations Development Programme (USD 177.1 million) and the World Food Programme (USD 176.7 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, Sweden’s bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 3.2 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 5% in real terms from 2023.
In 2024, country programmable aid amounted to USD 1.5 billion, or 48.1% of Sweden’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to the DAC country average of 46.5%.
Sweden’s in-donor refugee costs amounted to USD 129.3 million (4% of gross bilateral ODA) in 2024, while humanitarian aid was USD 95.2 million, or 5.2% of gross bilateral ODA.
In 2024, Sweden channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through multilateral organisations and NGOs. Technical co-operation made up 7.1% of gross ODA in 2024.
In 2024, CSOs received USD 1.1 billion of gross bilateral ODA, of which 10% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 4.4% of gross bilateral ODA was allocated to CSOs as core contributions and 28.8% 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 32.8% to 33.2%.
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, Sweden’s bilateral ODA primarily focused on countries in Africa. USD 1 billion was allocated to countries in Africa and USD 546 million to ODA-eligible countries in Europe (of which 72.2% was for Ukraine), accounting respectively for 32.2% and 17.1% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 295 million was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East). Countries in Africa were also the main recipient of Sweden’s earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations. The geographic focus is in line with Sweden’s overall policy.
In 2024, 31.9% of gross bilateral ODA went to Sweden’s top 10 recipients. Ukraine is the top recipient of Sweden’s ODA, in line with its focus on its immediate neighbourhood. Among its top 10 recipients, Afghanistan, Mozambique and Tanzania have had their bilateral strategies recently terminated, although support to these countries may continue through thematic strategies.
The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 39.1%, of which 10.3% consisted of expenditures for processing and hosting refugees in provider countries.
In 2024, Sweden allocated 0.24% of its GNI to the LDCs. Sweden allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (30.1%) to least developed countries in 2024, noting that 39.1% was unallocated by income group. Sweden allocated 15.9% of gross bilateral ODA to land-locked developing countries in 2024, equal to USD 508.6 million.
The distribution of Sweden’s ODA in net terms in relation to “ODA per person in extreme poverty”3 was USD 1.6 in the LDCs, USD 2.2 in lower middle-income countries and USD 3.8 in upper middle-income countries.
In 2025, Sweden provided USD 614.6 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion, a 43.6% increase from 2024 in real terms. USD 116.7 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2025, a 12.8% increase in real terms from 2024.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility was USD 1.2 billion in 2024, representing 39.1% of Sweden’s gross bilateral ODA. Of this ODA, 36% was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance, an increase from 34.1% in 2023, while 20.9% was allocated to peace, a decrease from 21.1% in 2023. Conflict prevention, a subset of contributions to peace, represented 4.8% of gross bilateral ODA, increasing from 4.7% in 2023.
Learn more about the States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest focus of Sweden’s bilateral ODA was social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 41.4% of bilateral ODA commitments (USD 756.4 million), with a strong focus on support to government and civil society (USD 497.6 million), health and population (USD 146.8 million) and other social infrastructure and services (USD 49.4 million). ODA for other macro sectors totalled USD 435.6 million, with a focus on administrative costs of donors (USD 219.7 million). Economic infrastructure and services amounted to USD 267.8 million (14.7% of bilateral ODA). Earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations also focused on social sectors and economic sectors in 2024.
In the period 2023-2024, Sweden committed 53.7% of screened bilateral allocable ODA to gender equality and women’s empowerment compared to 72% in 2021-2022 and a DAC average of 48.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 915.1 million 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 11.2% in 2023-2024, compared with the DAC average of 4.2%.
Sweden includes gender equality objectives in 5.5% of ODA for humanitarian aid, below the 2023-2024 DAC average of 21.5%.
Sweden screens the majority of bilateral allocable ODA against the DAC gender equality policy marker (96.4% in 2023-2024).
Sweden committed USD 10.3 million of ODA to end violence against women and girls, and USD 61.5 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, Sweden committed 35.2% of its total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 622.5 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, down from 45.2% in 2021-2022. The DAC average was 39%. In addition:
13.7% of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 11.2%.
26.7% of total bilateral allocable ODA (USD 471.9 million) focused on climate change overall (the DAC average was 35.4%), up from 26.4% in 2021-2022. Sweden had a greater focus on adaptation (23.4%) than on mitigation (14.6%) in 2023-2024.
12.5% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 211.4 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the DAC average was 8.6%), down from 14.2% in 2021-2022.
4.3% of screened bilateral allocable ODA (USD 72.9 million) focused on desertification overall (the DAC average was 4.2%), down from 5.1% in 2021-2022.
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
The OECD’s tracking of ODA for the sustainable ocean economy shows that Sweden committed USD 33.1 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2024, USD 11.8 million less than in 2023. The 2024 value is equivalent to 2.2% of Sweden’s bilateral allocable ODA.
In 2024, Sweden:
Allocated 6.1% of its bilateral ODA (USD 195.6 million) to core poverty-reducing sectors as defined by Sustainable Development Goal (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, 1.5% of bilateral ODA (USD 48 million) went to social protection support. Learn more by exploring the Reducing poverty and inequalities through ODA data explainer.
Committed USD 165.6 million (11.3% of its bilateral allocable ODA) to development co-operation projects and programmes that promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Committed USD 12.3 million (0.8% 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, Sweden sometimes seeks exemptions. It does not have a general policy; however, it makes information available on the OECD Digital Transparency Hub on the Tax Treatment of ODA.
Committed USD 403.1 million (27.4% 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 Sweden to developing countries amounted to USD 7.3 billion in net terms. Official sources accounted for USD 5.3 billion while USD 1.9 billion originated from private sources.
To help build markets in developing countries and incentivise greater mobilisation of private resources for development, many providers, including Sweden, have established development finance institutions and similar vehicles that extend private sector instruments (PSI). The guarantee instrument of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Swedfund International AB (Swedfund) were assessed as ODA-eligible PSI vehicles. PSI represented 3.5% of Sweden’s ODA in 2024 while the DAC average stood at 1.9%.
In 2024, Sida – through its guarantee instrument – and Swedfund extended USD 160.4 million in the form of PSI to developing countries.4 Of this, loans accounted for 32.4% whereas equities accounted for 64.1%. Other private sector instruments included guarantees and other unfunded contingent liabilities.
In 2024, USD 4.3 million (2.7%) of Sweden’s private sector instruments were allocated to the LDCs and other low-income countries (LICs). By contrast, 24.5% was received by middle-income countries, notably lower middle-income countries (16.3%). USD 116.8 million was unallocated by income. Sweden’s PSI primarily supported projects in the banking and financial services (53.7%) and energy (34.3%) sectors.
Sweden uses leveraging mechanisms to mobilise private finance for sustainable development. In 2024, Sweden’s mobilised USD 442.8 million from the private sector through guarantees, simple co-financing, shares in collective investment vehicles and direct investment in companies and special purpose vehicles. This constituted a 33.5% increase compared to 2023.
Private finance mobilised by Sweden in 2023-2024 mainly targeted middle-income countries, representing 24% of its total mobilised. Only 7.5% of total mobilised private finance during this period benefited the LDCs and other LICs, noting that 68.5% was unallocated by income.
Mobilised private finance by Sweden in 2023-2024 related mainly to activities in banking and financial services (53.3%), as its top sector. Furthermore, over this period, 74.2% of Sweden’s 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 Sweden as TOSSD totalled USD 6.4 billion, marking a 5% decrease compared with the previous year.5 Sweden’s TOSSD activities mostly targeted SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions).
Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.
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 this work, 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 four main ODA implementation agencies are Swedfund, the Swedish Institute, the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Sida provides country-level staff with a high degree of delegated programme and financial authority to design and adapt programmes to the local context. Team Sweden is a collaboration between the Swedish Trade and Invest Council, Sida, Swedfund, the Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN) and the Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK), whose aim is to increase synergies between trade and development.
The MFA staff consists of approximately 1 300 people; however, only a minor share of them work primarily on development co-operation. Sida has 901 staff; 572 are based in Stockholm and 329 in country offices/embassies abroad – 168 of the staff based abroad are local staff. One hundred people worked in Swedfund in 2024. Of these, 87 worked at the office in Stockholm, 5 in Nairobi, 3 in Abidjan and 5 in Kiev.
A 2024 audit found that although Sida and the Expert Group for Aid Studies provide the government with extensive information on aid results, the government’s reporting to parliament does not make it possible to assess those results against Sweden’s overall aid objective.
The main 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 mechanism is the Forum for Public Agencies, a yearly national forum hosted by Sida for knowledge exchange and collaboration between government agencies working on 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).
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 Sweden’s 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 mid-term review of Sweden: https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD/DAC/AR(2024)3/18/en/pdf.
2019 OECD-DAC Peer Review of Sweden: https://doi.org/10.1787/9f83244b-en.
CSO umbrella organisation ForumCiv: https://www.forumciv.org/int.
Folke Bernadotte Academy: https://fba.se/en.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA): https://www.government.se/government-of-sweden/ministry-for-foreign-affairs.
Swedfund: https://www.swedfund.se/en.
Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency: https://www.msb.se/en.
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida): https://www.sida.se/English.
Swedish Institute: https://si.se/en.
Swedish Research Council: https://www.vr.se/english.html.
Sweden has been a 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 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. Team Sweden is a collaboration between the Swedish Trade and Invest Council, the MFA, Sida, Swedfund, the SEK, the EKN and the National Board of Trade Sweden.
← 2. 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.
← 3. 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.
← 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 Sweden.