The health sector receives one of the largest shares of development assistance among social sectors. In 2020, funding for global health stood at US$29.1 billion. This represents the highest funding level since a peak at US$25.7 billion in 2017 and represents a 31% increase compared to US$22.2 billion in 2019. The large increase is attributed to increased global spending on global health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Global health's share within total development assistance fluctuates between 11% and 14%.



Top donors

In 2020, the largest donor was by far the US, followed by the UK, Germany, Japan, and France.


The share of total ODA spent on health varies from donor to donor. In relative terms, the largest DAC donors to health in 2020 were the US, South Korea, Iceland, Australia, and the UK.



Note to avoid double-counting, EU Institutions are not included as a donor in the ranking of total health ODA.


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Amanda Gumpert

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Sinead Dwyer

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Emily Wymer

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