Net ODA received (% of GNI) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Net official development assistance (ODA) consists of disbursements of loans made on concessional terms (net of repayments of principal) and grants by official agencies of the members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), by multilateral institutions, and by non-DAC countries to promote economic development and welfare in countries and territories in the DAC list of ODA recipients. It includes loans with a grant element of at least 25 percent (calculated at a rate of discount of 10 percent).

Source: Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows to Developing Countries, Development Co-operation Report, and International Development Statistics database. Data

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Central African Republic 31.59 2019
2 Somalia 28.96 2019
3 Burundi 22.33 2019
4 Liberia 20.14 2019
5 Sierra Leone 14.77 2019
6 Mozambique 12.64 2019
7 São Tomé and Principe 12.06 2019
8 Rwanda 11.90 2019
9 Malawi 11.22 2019
10 Mali 11.18 2019
11 Niger 11.06 2019
12 The Gambia 10.89 2019
13 Djibouti 8.43 2019
14 Guinea-Bissau 8.20 2019
15 Cabo Verde 7.87 2019
16 Burkina Faso 7.50 2019
17 Comoros 6.68 2019
18 Sudan 6.62 2019
19 Eritrea 6.54 2011
20 Senegal 6.37 2019
21 Chad 6.35 2019
22 Dem. Rep. Congo 6.18 2019
23 Uganda 6.10 2019
24 Togo 5.68 2019
25 Madagascar 5.56 2019
26 Lesotho 5.43 2019
27 Mauritania 5.29 2019
28 Zimbabwe 5.16 2019
29 Ethiopia 5.05 2019
30 Guinea 4.52 2019
31 Zambia 4.26 2019
32 Benin 4.23 2019
33 Tanzania 3.48 2019
34 Cameroon 3.44 2019
35 Kenya 3.29 2019
36 Tunisia 2.45 2019
37 Côte d'Ivoire 2.11 2019
38 Congo 1.87 2019
39 Eswatini 1.82 2019
40 Ghana 1.43 2019
41 Namibia 1.22 2019
42 Seychelles 1.15 2017
43 Nigeria 0.81 2019
44 Equatorial Guinea 0.77 2019
45 Gabon 0.75 2019
46 Morocco 0.64 2019
47 Egypt 0.60 2019
48 Libya 0.59 2019
49 Botswana 0.42 2019
50 South Africa 0.26 2019
51 Mauritius 0.14 2019
52 Algeria 0.10 2019
53 Angola 0.06 2019

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Development Relevance: The ratio of aid to GNI provides a measure of recipient country's dependency on aid. Ratios of aid are generally much higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions, and they increased in the 1980s. High ratios are due only in part to aid flows. Many African countries saw severe erosion in their terms of trade in the 1980s, along with weak policies, falling incomes, imports, and investment. Thus the increase in aid dependency ratios reflects events affecting both the numerator (aid) and the denominator (GNI). DAC exists to help its members coordinate their development assistance and to encourage the expansion and improve the effectiveness of the aggregate resources flowing to recipient economies. In this capacity DAC monitors the flow of all financial resources, but its main concern is official development assistance (ODA). Grants or loans to countries and territories on the DAC list of aid recipients have to meet three criteria to be counted as ODA. They are provided by official agencies, including state and local governments, or by their executive agencies. They promote economic development and welfare as the main objective. And they are provided on concessional financial terms (loans must have a grant element of at least 25 percent, calculated at a discount rate of 10 percent). The DAC Statistical Reporting Directives provide the most detailed explanation of this definition and all ODA-related rules. DAC statistics aim to meet the needs of policy makers in the field of development co-operation, and to provide a means of assessing the comparative performance of aid donors. DAC statistics are used extensively in the Peer Reviews conducted for each DAC member every four to five years, and have a wide range of other applications. They are used to measure donors' compliance with various international recommendations in the field of development co-operation (terms, volume), and are indispensable for analysis of virtually every aspect of development and development co-operation. From 1960 to 1990, official development assistance (ODA) flows from DAC countries to developing countries rose steadily, but then fell sharply in the 1990s. Since then, a series of high-profile international conferences have boosted ODA flows. In the mid-2000s, ODA once again rose due to exceptional debt relief operations for Iraq and Nigeria. Despite the recent financial crisis, ODA flows have continued to rise and in the early 2010s reached their highest real level ever at about US $130 billion. This demonstrates effectiveness of aid pledges, especially when they are made on the basis of adequate resources and backed by strong political will.

Limitations and Exceptions: Data on ODA is for aid-receiving countries. The data cover loans and grants from DAC member countries, multilateral organizations, and non-DAC donors. They do not reflect aid given by recipient countries to other developing countries. As a result, some countries that are net donors are shown as aid recipients. The indicator does not distinguish types of aid (program, project, or food aid; emergency assistance; or post-conflict peacekeeping assistance), which may have different effects on the economy. Ratio of aid to gross national income (GNI) provides measures of recipient country's dependency on aid. But care must be taken in drawing policy conclusions. For foreign policy reasons some countries have traditionally received large amounts of aid. Thus aid dependency ratio may reveal as much about a donor's interests as about a recipient's needs. Because the indicator relies on information from donors, it is not necessarily consistent with information recorded by recipients in the balance of payments, which often excludes all or some technical assistance - particularly payments to expatriates made directly by the donor. Similarly, grant commodity aid may not always be recorded in trade data or in the balance of payments. Moreover, DAC statistics exclude aid for military and antiterrorism purposes. The aggregates refer to World Bank classifications of economies and therefore may differ from those of the OECD.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The ODA excludes nonconcessional flows from official creditors, which are classified as "other official flows," and aid for military and anti-terrorism purposes. Transfer payments to private individuals, such as pensions, reparations, and insurance payouts, are in general not counted. In addition to financial flows, ODA includes technical cooperation, most expenditures for peacekeeping under UN mandates and assistance to refugees, contributions to multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and its specialized agencies, and concessional funding to multilateral development banks. The flows of official and private financial resources from the members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to developing economies are compiled by DAC, based principally on reporting by DAC members using standard questionnaires issued by the DAC Secretariat. The ODA excludes nonconcessional flows from official creditors, which are classified as "other official flows," and aid for military and anti-terrorism purposes. Transfer payments to private individuals, such as pensions, reparations, and insurance payouts, are in general not counted. In addition to financial flows, ODA includes technical cooperation, most expenditures for peacekeeping under UN mandates and assistance to refugees, contributions to multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and its specialized agencies, and concessional funding to multilateral development banks. Flows are transfers of resources, either in cash or in the form of commodities or services measured on a cash basis. Short-term capital transactions (with one year or less maturity) are not counted. Repayments of the principal (but not interest) of ODA loans are recorded as negative flows. Proceeds from official equity investments in a developing country are reported as ODA, while proceeds from their later sale are recorded as negative flows. The official development assistance estimates are published annually at the end of the calendar year in International Development Statistics (IDS) database. Net ODA received as a percent of GNI is calculated using values in U.S. dollars converted at official exchange rates.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual