Total ODA gross disbursements from DAC donors and multilateral organisations decreased in 2021 to US$205.6 billion, from US$209.6 billion in 2020.

Although DAC donors increased gross disbursements by US$7.5 billion (6%) in 2021 (to US$136.4 billion – the highest ever), disbursements from multilateral donors fell by US$11.6 billion (14%), meaning total ODA gross disbursements were lower than in 2020.

India, Bangladesh and Sudan received the largest amounts of ODA in 2021.

Health, humanitarian and infrastructure sectors received the largest amounts of ODA in 2021.

Less than a third of ODA was disbursed to countries grouped as least developed and/or low income in 2021 (a fall of 2.0% from 2020).

Total bilateral ODA marked as having a climate objective grew (up from US$27.1 billion in 2020 to US$28.4 billion in 2021), driven by increases in adaptation finance.

The proportion of ODA that governments provided as grants increased for the first time since 2018 (up from 78% in 2020 to 81% in 2021).