Policy Context

Gender equality has been a strong focus area for Denmark. Denmark has a solid record as a champion of gender equality and women’s rights, the defense of democracy, and advancing human rights. Denmark is committed to continuing to lead the way in the global fight for gender equality and the protection of girls’ and women’s rights as set out in the current Strategy for Development Cooperation.

Denmark ranked high on SRHR expenditure in relation to total ODA, compared to the other DAC countries in 2021. Denmark’s strong focus on SRHR, manifests as supporting gender equality and SRHR initiatives locally, through education, girls’ and women’s economic and political empowerment, as well as sexual and gender-based violence.

ODA Spending

How much ODA does Denmark allocate to gender equality?

In 2021, Denmark provided US$657 million in gender equality-related funding. This includes US$171 million, or 10% of bilateral allocable ODA, in funding for projects with gender equality as a principal objective and US$486 million, or 27% of bilateral allocable ODA) in funding for projects with significant gender equality components. In 2021, gender equality-related funding accounted for 37% of bilateral allocable ODA, which is below the DAC average of 42%.

How is Denmark's gender equality ODA changing?

Denmark’s gender-related ODA overall increased between 2017 and 2021, peaking in 2019 mostly as a result of high levels of significant funding.

Multilateral Spending

Denmark contributed US$72 million to UNFPA in 2022. Of this, 47%, or US$34 million was core contributions and 53%, or US$38 million comprised non-core contributions towards UNFPA Emergencies and other programs. In addition, Denmark contributed US$18 million to UN Women in 2021, making it the 11^th largest donor country to UN Women. UN organizations are a main priority for Denmark’s multilateral ODA, as Denmark generally supports large international organizations to create a larger impact as a small country.