EU and Germany cut humanitarian aid budgets as global funding declines
Germany’s humanitarian aid budget has been cut to €10.06 billion, a decline of almost 20% since 2023, according to recent reports.
Germany’s humanitarian aid budget is set to decrease to €10.06 billion, reflecting a nearly 20% reduction since 2023, sparking criticism from development NGOs.
The EU is set to negotiate its budget for 2028 to 2034, with development funding expected to increase by 75%.
Briefing summary
Humanitarian funding has decreased significantly, with global aid dropping from approximately €23.97 billion in 2025 to €7.34 billion in 2026, according to the Financial Tracking Service.
The EU and its member states represent over 40% of global development aid. However, Germany has announced a reduction of €251 million to its humanitarian aid budget, marking nearly a 20% decline since 2023.
Sweden has also reduced its development funding by €930 million, reallocating the funds towards Ukraine, which reflects ongoing changes in international aid strategies amid budget negotiations for 2028 to 2034.
After a year of Trump’s cuts to foreign aid, has humanitarian funding suffered?
Humanitarian funding has been declining since 2023, showing how vulnerable it is to the political whims of the day.
It’s a similar story around the world: between 2025 and 2026, total global humanitarian funding plummeted from around €23.97 billion ($27.60 billion) to approximately €7.34 billion ($8 billion), according to the latest data from the Financial Tracking Service (FTS).
Currently, the EU and its member states account for more than 40% of development aid globally, while the US makes up 28.3%.
However, at the end of last year, Germany announced the humanitarian aid budget would be reduced to €10.06 billion — a fall of €251 million compared to 2025 and a decline of almost 20% since 2023.
“Reducing one’s own spending to the lowest level in 10 years in this dramatic situation is simply unacceptable,” said Åsa Månsson, managing director at VENRO, the umbrella organisation of development NGOs in Germany, in a statement.
In addition, Sweden announced a cut of around €930 million (10 billion kronor) in development funding to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Tanzania and Bolivia, instead choosing to reallocate the funds to Ukraine.
The move was part of “cost-effectiveness, new transformative approaches and innovation are guiding principles for the strategy,” according to the Government Offices of Sweden.
It’s a similar story among international organisations too, which are seeing their international development budgets decrease across the board.
So far, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, and the Central Emergency Response Fund are the top three organisations receiving the most funds in 2026, but they’ve still shrunk compared to last year.
Across the world, health and food security make up the bulk of the funding.
The majority of Europe’s humanitarian aid is sent to Ukraine ($607.7 million).
But the exact numbers could be set to change as the EU begins negotiations on its budget for 2028 to 2034: the development part of the EU’s budget, called the “Global Europe”, is set to increase 75%.
Half of this budget’s initiative will be dedicated to Ukraine, while €43.2 billion will go to other countries in line to join the bloc.
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