Key statistics

Key Statistics

• The UK’s Gross Public Expenditure on Development (GPEX) amounted to £7,183m in 2008/09. The DFID aid programme accounted for £5,803m (81 per cent) of this expenditure.
• GPEX increased to £7,183m in 2008/09 from £6,027m in 2007/08.  This represents an increase of £1,156m (19 per cent).   This increase follows a 21 per cent decrease in GPEX between 2005/06 and 2007/08.
• Excluding debt relief, GPEX totalled £6,835m in 2008/09; this represents an increase of £883m (15 per cent) over the 2007/08 total of £5,952m.
• In the calendar year 2008 the UK reported £6,356m as Official Development Assistance (ODA), making the UK the third largest OECD-DAC donor on this internationally agreed classification of aid.  The UK’s ODA/ GNI ratio for 2008 was 0.43 per cent.
• In 2008/09 £3,288m (57 per cent) of the DFID programme was bilateral assistance and £2,277m (39 per cent) was multilateral assistance.  The remaining £234m (4 per cent) was spent on administration costs.
• Of the £3,288m bilateral assistance delivered in 2008/09, 76 per cent (or £2,483 million) was spent through DFID’s country programme .
• DFID’s bilateral expenditure rose to £3,288m in 2008/09 from £2,962m in 2007/08 (11 per cent).  India (£297m), Ethiopia (£166m) and Afghanistan (£147m) received the largest amounts of DFID bilateral aid.
• DFID’s bilateral assistance excluding humanitarian assistance was £2,839m in 2008/09, up from £2,531m in 2007/08 (12 per cent).  India, Ethiopia and Tanzania were the largest recipients of bilateral aid excluding humanitarian assistance.
• DFID’s bilateral humanitarian assistance in 2008/09 totalled £449m, representing an increase of £18m (4 per cent).  The largest recipients of bilateral humanitarian assistance were Sudan (£53m), Burma (£46m) and Ethiopia (£34m). 
• DFID’s bilateral assistance to sub-Saharan Africa rose to £1,466m in 2008/09 from £1,302m in 2007/08 (13 per cent).  In 2007/08, it is estimated that £720m of DFID’s core contributions to multilateral organisations was spent in sub-Saharan Africa. DFID also gives core funding to not-for-profit organisations which is spent in Africa e.g. through Oxfam or VSO.
• DFID bilateral assistance to Asia increased over this period from £931m to £1,088m (17 per cent). Assistance to Europe and the Pacific also increased slightly during the period.
• In 2008/09 £337m of bilateral assistance was channelled through UK Civil Society Organisations.  Major recipients included the British Red Cross, VSO and Oxfam. 
• DFID’s total multilateral programme accounted for £2,277m in 2008/09 up from £1,990m in 2007/08 (14 per cent).
• The European Commission’s development programme received the largest amount of DFID multilateral assistance (£1,154m), followed by the World Bank (£574m) and the United Nations (£252m).
• The sector receiving the highest share of DFID bilateral expenditure in 2008/09 was the government and civil society sector with £794m.  This was followed by the health sector with £685m and the economic sector with £527m