The overlap between crisis-affected and low-income countries also aligns closely with the category of least developed countries (LDCs).81 Many LDCs are affected by armed conflict or are undergoing costly post-conflict reconstruction. In 2024, more than half the crisis-affected countries were also classified as LDCs (56%).82 As such, this section examines UN expenses in support of countries facing some of the most severe, multidimensional development challenges.
Figure 37 illustrates UN spending in LDCs from 2015 to 2024. The left-hand panel disaggregates humanitarian and development assistance, while the right-hand panel shows the breakdown of expenses by core, earmarked and other funding.83
UN development and humanitarian expenses in least developed countries, 2015–2024 (US$ billion)
Source: Report of the Secretary-General (A/81/75/Add.1-E/2026/61/Add.1). Historical data from various reports.
UN support to LDCs displayed steady growth over the period, increasing from US$ 8.9 billion in 2015 to US$ 20.6 billion in 2022. In 2023, there was a marginal decline to US$ 20.5 billion, suggesting UN expenses in LDC had plateaued. A marked US$ 2 billion drop in 2024, however, saw the total slip to US$ 18.5 billion. These fluctuations were driven primarily by changes in humanitarian assistance: a US$ 1.8 billion contraction from US$ 14.4 billion in 2023 to $12.6 billion in 2024. Nearly US$ 1 billion of this decline is explained by cuts of approximately US$ 500 million in humanitarian assistance to each of Afghanistan and Yemen.
The right-hand panel of Figure 37 reveals that allocations to LDCs are funded primarily through earmarked resources, which accounted for 80–87% of total expenses over the period. In 2024, core resources funded a mere 10% of humanitarian and development activities in LDCs, underlining the extent to which UN support to LDCs is dependent on earmarked funding. This is a worrying indicator of just how vulnerable UN assistance in such settings is to changing funding trends.
Given the downward trend in the UN’s revenue projections for 2025–2027 (-21%), together with the OECD projection for 2025 of a 25.8% reduction in bilateral ODA to LDCs, it seems likely that UN OAD expenses in LDCs will see further major declines over the coming years.84 The same logic holds true for UN expenses in crisis-affected UN programming countries.
Endnotes
A country is designated an LDC if it meets the following three criteria concerning low income, weak human development and economic vulnerability: 1) an average per capita income below US$ 1,088 (2024 review); 2) a low Human Assets Index, which measures health and economic outcomes; and 3) a high Economic and Environmental Vulnerability Index, which is based on, among other things, population size and remoteness, export concentration, and exposure to natural disasters and climate shocks. For the full list of LDC countries, see www.un.org/
ohrlls/content/list-ldcs.
As of December 2024, 44 countries were classified as LDCs. Of these, 32 are in Africa (15 in Eastern Africa, 12 in Western Africa, 4 in Middle Africa, and 1 in Southern Africa); 8 in Asia (4 in Southern Asia, 3 in South-eastern Asia, and 1 in Western Asia); 3 in Oceania (1 in Polynesia, 1 in Melanesia, and 1 in Micronesia); and 1 in Latin America and the Caribbean. For the criteria and list of LDCs, see www.un.org/ohrlls/content/least-developed-countries and https://www.un.org/ohrlls/content/list-ldcs.
OECD (note 3), p. 2. See also OECD, ‘A historic decline in foreign aid: Preliminary 2025 ODS data’, 9 April 2026, www.oecd.org/en/data/insights/dataexplainers/2026/04/a-historic-decline….