Netherlands

Summary

ODA Spending

How much ODA does the Netherlands contribute?

In 2024, OECD ODA data show that the Netherlands was the 7^th-largest donor country, spending US$7.2 billion on ODA. This corresponded to 0.62% of its GNI, putting it in 7^th place in a ranking of countries’ ODA expenditures relative to the size of their economies.

How is the Netherlands’ ODA changing?

Between 2020-2021, the Netherlands’ ODA and GDP decreased, followed by an increase in 2022 that held level in 2023, partly due to increased spending on IDRCs.

In September 2024, the new conservative government coalition formed after the Netherlands’ 2023 general elections announced a structural cut to the annual development budget of EUR2.4 billion (US$2.6 billion) from 2027, reducing ODA as a percentage of GNI from an estimated 0.62% in 2024 to 0.44% in 2029. The new government coalition also made cuts against previously planned increases to ODA by EUR350 million ( US$379 million) and EUR550 million ( US$595 million) in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

Where is the Netherlands’ ODA allocated?

In 2024, the Netherlands channeled 69% of its ODA bilaterally. This split between bilateral and multilateral funding in the Netherlands is likely to remain stable in coming years. The Netherlands’ strong bilateral funding focus is reflective of the government’s focus on promoting trade relationships and strengthening the link between development and trade.

Bilateral Spending

In 2022, IDRCs received the largest funding share of the Netherlands' bilateral ODA for the first time since 2018. This share increased slightly in 2023.

The Netherlands spent the second-largest share of bilateral ODA in 2023 on government and civil society. Funding to global health, an area closely related to Dutch thematic priorities, saw a significant jump between 2020-2021, and remained elevated in 2022.

In its Policy Memorandum of February 2025, the government announced a reorientation of Dutch development assistance. Going forward, assistance will be explicitly tied to the Netherlands’ economic, security and migration interests. Water management, food security and global health were identified the key priorities, while focus areas such as gender equality, education, sports & culture and climate-related activities will be significantly reduced or terminated altogether.

The Netherlands selects its focus regions and countries based on three elements:

• The urgency and need for development cooperation;
• The added value of Dutch efforts; and
• The potential for alignment with Dutch thematic priorities.

LICs remain the main recipients of the Netherlands’ ODA. Priority countries tend to be the countries of origin for a high proportion of migrants and refugees arriving in the Netherlands. In the coming years, a reorientation of geographic areas of focus of Dutch development aid can be expected. In February 2025, the government announced that funding will be concentrated in West Africa (Sahel, Nigeria, Ghana), the Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan), North Africa & Middle East (Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq) as well as Ukraine.

The Netherlands does not extend loans as part of its development cooperation. Despite this, engaging the private sector and promoting private sector growth in LICs is one of the Dutch government’s key priorities.

Multilateral Spending and Commitments

The Netherlands provides core contributions to several multilateral organizations, including the UNDP, UNICEF, and UNIDO, as well as international finance institutions including the AfDB, the World Bank, and the EBRD. The decrease in core multilateral cooperation funding was likely triggered by reallocations toward humanitarian relief funding to UN organizations like UNHCR, as well as the end of several multi-year obligations.

In December 2022, the Netherlands published its policy framework on global multilateralism. This framework is complementary to the government's coalition agreement and existing strategies, including the international climate strategy and global health strategy. The policy framework outlines three multilateral pillars:

• Protecting the multilateral system against influences that undermine the international legal order and human rights;
• Strengthening the Netherlands’ position and that of the EU in the current dynamic geopolitical multilateral field of influence; and
• Ensuring the multilateral order is more representative, coherent, efficient, and effective, operating in line with the vision and mission of the founding treaties and statutes.

The government’s Policy Memorandum presented in February 2025 announces a reduction of support to the multilateral system. Core contributions to UNDP and UNICEF will be reduced by 50%, while activities with UN Women will be terminated entirely. International NGOs will no longer receive Dutch aid funding unless projects specifically align with national interests.

Politics & Priorities

What is the current state of Dutch politics?

The Netherlands is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system. Elections take place every four years, except in the event of a dissolution.

The nationalist, right-wing populist PVV won the 2023 national elections with 37 parliamentary seats. Party leader Geert Wilders is a divisive, long-standing figure in Dutch politics who is a strong critic of immigration. The PVV 's manifesto noted that it would put any climate agreements and measures “through the shredder” and to “immediately stop development cooperation” to redirect resources to Dutch citizens.

Wilders eventually chose not to become prime minister, possibly due to the contentious nature of his anti-Islam and anti- EU positions that could limit coalition potential. The PVV then formed a government coalition with the VVD, the Christian Democratic NSC, and the right-wing populist Farmer-Citizen Movement BBB, after facing some difficulties with coalition-building surrounding Wilders. Former Secretary-General at the Ministry of Justice and Security Dick Schoof, not associated with any party, instead assumed the role of Prime Minister. Schoof was considered a surprising choice, given his non-affiliation and lack of political experience. Previously, he was associated with the social-democratic PvdA for 30 years before leaving in 2019.

Schoof's coalition government plans to implement some of Wilders' radical policies, including stringent immigration controls. However, Schoof has emphasized his aim to be a prime minister for all Dutch citizens.

On May 16, 2024, the four coalition parties agreed to an outline agreement, titled Hope, Courage, and Pride. As part of this agreement, the government will cut the Netherlands’ development budget by EUR2.4 billion (US$ 2.6 billion) per year from 2027. In February 2025, PVV Minister Reinette Kleever submitted a Policy Memorandum to Parliament outlining the details of how these reductions will be implemented, announcing important changes to ODA priorities, regional focus and partners.

Who is responsible for allocating the Netherlands’ ODA?

Dutch CSOs play an active role in Dutch development cooperation. The development CSO umbrella organization Partos represents over 100 organizations that engage with the Dutch parliament and the MFA to influence policy and funding decisions. Many CSOs implement their own programs in LICs and are funded by the Dutch government and through private donations. Since the end of 2015, program funding for CSOs has been cut sharply, and the MFA has placed a larger focus on strategic partnerships and advocacy. From 2021, funding for CSOs has been channeled through the new Strategic Partnership programs focusing on various themes. A total of 42 CSOs were funded under the Strategic Partnership grant scheme, under four different funding calls: Power of Voices (including food security, climate adaptation and human rights programs), Power of Women, the SRHR Partnership Fund, and Women, Peace and Security. The partnerships cover the period 2021-2025 and cover a total of EUR1.3 billion ( US$1.5 billion).

However, on November 11, 2024, the government announced plans to reduce NGO funding by over 70%, cutting the budget from EUR1.4 billion ( US$1.5 billion) from 2021-2025 to EUR390-EUR565 million ( US$424-614 million) for 2026-2030. This EUR1 billion ( US$1.1 billion) cut reflects the government’s goal to streamline spending and reduce NGO reliance on public funds. Priority areas for NGO funding are health (e.g., combatting HIV/AIDS, ending FGC), trade (e.g., promoting women’s entrepreneurship), and human rights (e.g., supporting vulnerable groups and female human rights defenders).

What are the Netherlands’ development priorities?

The objectives and priorities of the new conservative government are laid out in the Policy Memorandum (“Beleidsbrief Ontwikkelingshulp”) submitted by Minister Kleever to Parliament in February 2025. The document describes how the agreed funding cuts announced in the government’s coalition agreement will be implemented.

The Policy Memorandum signifies a radical departure from the assistance policy implemented by previous administrations. While the previous government focused on areas “the Netherlands is good at”, the current government’s priority is to focus exclusively on “what is good for the Netherlands”, putting Dutch interests – not poverty reduction or the 2030 Agenda – at the core of the country’s assitance policy. The policy reorients the focus of Dutch development cooperation towards Dutch interests, in particular trade, economic growth and investment; security and stability; and migration.

The memorandum sets out three key thematic priorities:

• Water management, in particular to leverage Dutch expertise in water infrastructure and coastal protection
• Food security, helping local food production while strengthening supply chains of the strong and highly globalized Dutch agribusiness sector
• Health, strengthening healthcare in developing regions, particularly maternal and child healthcare.

Geographically, assistance will concentrate on a more limited number of countries, mostly in neighboring regions. Programs in West Africa, the Horn of Africa, as well as North Africa & the MENA region will continue, while activities outside of these priority regions, such as the Great Lakes Region, will be phased out.

In terms of implementing partners, the government has announced it will shift cooperation away from multilateral agencies and international NGOs to direct partnerships with local organizations. In addition, the government will focus on building stronger ties – including through concessional loans - between assistance-funded programs and Dutch businesses, particularly in infrastructure, agriculture and water sectors. Core contributions to various UN agencies, such as UNDP, UNICEF and UN-Women, will be reduced or terminated.

Humanitarian assistance will remain a priority.

By Issue

Previously, the Netherlands viewed gender equality as a prerequisite to all other development goals. The Netherlands had been a global champion for gender equality, particularly in SRHR. ‘Equal rights and opportunities for women and girls’ and SRHR are two of the Netherlands’ development priorities. The Netherlands also launched its Feminist Foreign Policy in 2022 and released its handbook to support its Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs employees on November 29, 2024.

In its Policy Memorandum of February 2025, the government announced that the budget for activities under the heading “Women’s rights and gender” of the assistance budget, will be phased out and reduced to 0 by 2028. However, programs for sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls will continue as part of the priority area for health.

Climate: In February 2025, the government of the Netherlands announced that it will reduce its funding to climate-related activities. In the Policy Memorandum submitted by Minister Kleever to the Dutch Parliament, the government announced it will stop funding small-scale renewable energy projects. In addition, financing of regional climate funds will also be terminated. However, the memorandum also stipulates that the Netherlands will continue to contribute to international climate finance.

The total budget of climate-related activities for 2026 is being reduced from EUR381 million ( US$412 million) to EUR243 million ( US$412 million). From 2027, the budget will be further reduced to EUR200 million ( US$216 million). per year.

Education has decreased in priority for the Netherlands. The Dutch government stated it would prioritize larger and longer programs on a smaller number of priority areas, which did not feature education. In February 2025, the government announced it would phase out all funding to vocational and higher education programs.

The Netherlands considers itself to be an international leader in the area of agriculture. It is prioritizing green energy and digitization transition especially in trade to lower international trade costs in its development cooperation. The Dutch government also sees agriculture as intertwined with food security, water management, and climate protection. . In February 2025, the government reconfirmed that despite overall ODA funding cuts, agriculture and food security would remain a priority for Dutch development assistance.

By Region

In February 2025, the government announced a reorientation of the geographic focus of Dutch development cooperation. Going forward, funding will be concentrated in three regions:

• West Africa (e.g. Sahel, Nigeria, Ghana);
• The Horn of Africa (e.g Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan); and
• North Africa & Middle East (e.g, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq).

These regions are considered to be key areas of origin and transit of migration flows. By strengthening partnerships with countries in these regions, the government wishes to stimulate return of migrants, prevent irregular migration and provide better protection to migrants. In addition, programs focused on basic needs and security and stability in those regions will continue. The earlier 2022 development policy, Doing What the Netherlands is Good At had already identified these regions as areas of focus. However, the strategy listed a total of 22 focus countries for development cooperation, which also include countries outside of these focus regions, such as Mozambique and Bangladesh. In addition, the strategy also outlined 25 trade focus countries and 14 countries where both development cooperation and trade would be combined in bilateral programs.

The Netherlands published an updated Africa Strategy in May 2023, which outlined short-, mid-, and long-term actions to promote the 54 countries’ equal economic development, reduce poverty, improve human rights, and limit irregular migration.

In particular, the strategy displayed the Netherlands’ ambition to strengthen and deepen its strategic relationship and partnership with African countries, both bilaterally and multilaterally through the EU, with a focus on equitable and reciprocal cooperation based on mutual interests. Key themes included:

• Promoting regional stability, mobility, and migration agreements;
• Achieving the SDGs and AU 2063 Agenda; and
• Increasing the prosperity and climate resilience of people and communities in Africa and Europe.

The strategy was based on consultations with Dutch, international, and African knowledge institutions and think tanks, as well as CSOs, international organizations, and partners in African countries.

The Netherlands also provides a range of support to 12 specific LDCs on the SDGs. Those countries largely coincide with the Netherlands’ focus regions and include Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, the Palestinian territories, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, and Yemen.

At the same time, the Netherlands continues activities targeted toward specific objectives in 10 LMICs. Examples include the reception of refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, as well as reconstruction in Iraq. The full list of countries receiving targeted support covers Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chad, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Somalia, and Tunisia. In 2020, the Netherlands began ‘phasing out’ of several countries. These included Ghana and Indonesia, with which they intend to intensify their trade relations going forward.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of in Ukraine in February 2022, the Netherlands has been a key provider of support to Ukraine.

Budget

What are the details of the Netherlands’ ODA Budget?

ODA is distributed across several ministries.The MFTDC, which sits under the MFA, manages about half of the ODA budget. The MFA and Ministry of Justice and Security manage about a fifth of ODA each. The Ministries of Finance and Education administer most of the small remaining amount of ODA, and a fraction of a percentage of ODA is managed by ministries such as Agriculture and Health.

On Budget Day 2024, the Dutch government announced a EUR3.6 billion ( US$4.1 billion) total 2025 budget for the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Assistance and saw EUR300 million ( US$316 million) in cuts from the 2025 development budget.

The funding cuts, outlined in the May 2024 Coalition agreement, included reversing planned cuts to the Dutch diplomatic network from 22% to 10%, with the shortfall financed from the development budget. Key areas like water management, food security, and health remain prioritized.

A new sub-article for Foreign Trade consolidates support for Ukraine, allocating EUR252 million ( US$265 million) to humanitarian and infrastructure support and EUR60 million ( US$63 million) for humanitarian demining in 2025.

Additionally, the government announced that aid would no longer tie the development budget to the size of the Dutch economy, ending the practice of allocating 0.7% ODA/GNI as per OECD guidelines. In March 2025, a majority in the Dutch Senate adopted a motion calling on the government to reinstate linking the ODA budget to GNI. The Spring Bill to be presented in April 2025 is expected to provide further details on this.

How does the Netherlands determine its ODA budget?

The Dutch fiscal year is the same as the calendar year.