How much foreign aid does the US provide?
Data updated October 30, 2024
About $70.3 billion in aid was promised for fiscal year (FY) 2022, the most recent fully-reported year. The United States gives foreign assistance to provide humanitarian aid and support peace, security, and economic development around the world. Investing in global security and stability serves US national security interests by creating strategic and economic connections with other countries.
$70.3B
dollars committed to foreign aid (FY 2022)
173
countries promised aid (FY 2022)
The more than 20 federal agencies that fund foreign assistance activities report their aid to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State. Due to data collection and reporting lags from the agencies providing aid, it can take up to two years for data to be considered “fully reported.” And even once they are, these numbers continue to change.
In FY 2022, $70.3 billion was committed to foreign aid.
Obligations by fiscal year, billions of inflation-adjusted dollars
Foreign aid can be either military or non-military in nature. According to USAID, military aid is “... foreign assistance for government armed forces for purposes such as internal security, legitimate self–defense, or to permit their participation in regional or United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations.” Non-military assistance is any other aid, broadly described by “economic assistance.” In FY 2022, 86% of foreign aid was for economic purposes, and the remaining 14% was for military purposes.
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In FY 2022, 86% of foreign aid was promised for economic purposes.
Obligations by fiscal year, billions of inflation-adjusted dollars
Obligations are legally binding pledges for the government to pay for the goods or services that it’s promised, either right away or in the future. Disbursements, which count dollars when the money to fund an obligation is actually transferred out of US government accounts, is another way of measuring aid. As a measure of actual foreign aid spending in a given year, disbursements enable comparisons against government expenditures, making it easier to see the share of foreign aid in the annual budget.
In FY 2022, foreign aid disbursements represented 1.1% of federal spending.
