Switzerland's official development assistance reached 0.46% of GNI in 2025
Bern, 09.04.2026 — Official development assistance (ODA) fell to an unprecedented low in 2025. Switzerland remains a significant donor country: Swiss ODA amounted to CHF 3.8 billion, or 0.46% of gross national income (GNI). This figure fell by around 7% compared to the previous year, mainly due to lower asylum-related costs. ODA includes expenditure eligible for ODA from the Swiss Confederation, cantons and municipalities.
Switzerland's ODA fell by CHF 261 million compared to 2024, from 0.49% to 0.46% of GNI. This decrease is mainly due to a reduction of CHF 156 million in the proportion of asylum costs in Switzerland that can be counted as ODA according to OECD criteria. For the first time since 2022, these costs will fall below CHF 1 billion, to CHF 856 million. The ODA/GNI ratio excluding asylum costs is 0.36%, down slightly from 0.37% in 2024.
Parliament decided to apply budget cuts of CHF 110 million to international cooperation in 2025. However, additional resources were approved by the Federal Council and Parliament to respond to the crisis in Sudan (CHF 50 million).
Switzerland's performance compared with other countries
Official development assistance (ODA) from members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) stood at $174.3 billion in 2025. It saw the sharpest decline in its history, falling by 23% in real terms compared with 2024. Of the 33 DAC members, 26 reduced their ODA, including the top five donors (France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States). The United States alone accounted for three-quarters of the decline and lost its position as the world’s leading aid donor to Germany. Hungary, Spain, Sweden, Luxembourg, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Italy increased their ODA. Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark remain at the top of the international rankings and exceed the United Nations target of 0.7% of GNI. Switzerland has moved up two places in the rankings compared to 2024 and ranks 7th in 2025.
Role of Swiss international cooperation
Swiss international cooperation helps to reduce poverty and support sustainable development, while protecting the environment and promoting peace, human rights and democracy. It is a core tool of Swiss foreign policy and preventive security policy, and is built on development and economic cooperation, humanitarian aid, and the promotion of peace and human rights.
Implementation of the international cooperation strategy is the responsibility of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Peace and Human Rights Division of the FDFA, as well as the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. The budgets concerned accounted for almost 70% of ODA in 2025.
Calculating ODA
All public spending devoted to supporting developing countries counts as ODA. In addition to the federal government's international cooperation activities, the eligible expenditures incurred by other federal offices are also counted as ODA, including eligible costs related to asylum, as are contributions by Swiss cantons and communes, provisionally estimated at CHF 70 million. The calculations do not include private funding, such as private donations from NGOs and foundations, direct investments or remittances from migrant workers.
ODA is calculated on the basis of guidelines issued by the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC).
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