Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact : ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 17 on revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development; which is embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under 'A stronger Europe in the world'.

SDG 17 calls for a global partnership for sustainable development. It highlights the importance of macroeconomic stability and of mobilising financial resources for developing countries. It also stresses the importance of trade and equitable rules for governing it. The goal also emphasises the importance of access to science and technology, in particular internet-based information and communications technology. To reach the objectives of Goal 17, Official Development Assistance and other financial resources, whether public or private, domestic or international will be needed.

Indicator can be considered as similar to global SDG indicator 17.2.1 "Net official development assistance, total and to least developed countries, as a proportion of the OECD-DAC donors’ GNI".

Advanced economies such as the EU can support developing countries to shift to sustainable — and country-led — development paths in various ways. This includes providing official development assistance (ODA). For this reason, there is a long-standing target of dedicating 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) to ODA.

The European Consensus on Development of June 2017 outlines the need to dedicate a high proportion of official development assistance to least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries. Hence, 0.15-0.20 % of GNI should be allocated to LDCs in the short term, rising to 0.20 % by 2030. The Consensus takes a comprehensive approach to implementation, combining aid with other resources, with sound policies and a strengthened approach to Policy Coherence for Development.

Official development assistance (ODA) consists of grants, loans and equity investments that are undertaken by the official sector with the objective of promoting economic development and welfare in developing countries. Disbursements record the actual international transfer of financial resources, or of goods or services valued at the cost of the donor. ODA is here presented as a share of Gross National Income (GNI). GNI at market prices equals Gross Domestic Product (GDP) minus primary income payable by resident units to non-resident units, plus primary income receivable by resident units from the rest of the world. The list of countries and territories eligible to receive ODA is determined by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee.

Since reference year 2004, the EU27 (from 2020) aggregate refers to the ODA provided by the EU and its Member States as 'EU collective ODA'. Since 2004, the data produced by INTPA takes into account the “EU Institutions’ ODA not imputed to MS” on top of MS ODA when calculating the EU collective ODA. 

% of gross national income (GNI)

Calendar year

Indicator from non-ESS sources. For assessment of accuracy please refer to the original source (see link to external data source OECD Statistics and metadata in section “Annexes”).

DG INTPA, OECD (DAC)

Data source:  OECD database 

Data provider: European Commission, Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA); Development Assistance Commitee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Every year

The indicator is updated annually.

T+1 year

New data points are disseminated within one year after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States and Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.

The OECD publishes data for all DAC members as well as a number of non-DAC donor countries on their website.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively and other presented countries.

> 10 years

Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2000.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Total ODA: Break in time series for total ODA in 2018 (switch from net disbursements to grant equivalents). Data for total ODA include the Member States’ ODA and EU institutions’ ODA not imputed to Member States and other donors.

ODA to LDS's: Data include Member States’ bilateral net ODA and imputed multilateral ODA. Break in time series for ODA to LDCs in 2020: additional inclusion of Member States’ and EU institutions’ regional ODA known to benefit LDCs (excluding the component of EU institutions’ regional ODA known to benefit LDCs that could be imputed back to the UK).

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

See table sdg_17_10

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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