The UK and international development: Global issues for 2026

Philip Loft

Humanitarian need in 2026

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) estimates that in 2026 239 million people will need humanitarian support, lower than recent years but remaining much higher than the 125 million to 136 million from 2016 to 2019.

For 2026, UNOCHA has launched a “laser-focused” prioritisation programme, where only 87 million people will be supported in the first instance, though it will extend this to 135 million with sufficient funds.

The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, said this reduction reflected recent underfunding of aid appeals and the need to prioritise the most urgent humanitarian situations.

He said that he would also promote increased diplomatic work to address underlying causes of need—notably conflict—and to drive reform in the humanitarian sector (see below).

Continuing falls in global aid spending

After the level of global aid spending rose every year from 2019 to 2023, major aid donors have announced budget cuts in the period to 2027. These include the UK, France, Germany and the United States, who collectively represent two-thirds of aid spending over the last decade (the US represents a quarter).

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which reports on the spending of the world’s major donors (though not China) estimates that global aid spending started falling from 2023. In 2024 it fell by 9% from the preceding year and likely fell further in 2025, by between 9% and 17%.

Despite the fall, however, in 2025 aid is estimated to have stood at around US$170 to $180 billion. Budgets in 2026 and 2027 are more uncertain. The OECD projects aid will decline further but remain around 2019 levels.

For 2025, the OECD projects that least developed countries will have received between 13% and 25% less in bilateral aid compared to 2024. It also projects a large decline in global health spending from its peak during the covid-19 pandemic.

The OECD notes that the reductions follow a recent history of stagnating levels of aid to least developed countries from 2010 to 2023.

UK aid priorities and future aid spending

In 2026, the UK will continue to reduce its aid budget to 0.3% of gross national income by 2027/28 (having been reduced from 0.7% to 0.5% from 2021). Larger reductions are expected from April 2026: the government expected aid reductions to provide £500 million for defence in 2025/26, before rising to £4.8 billion in 2026/27 and £6.5 billion in 2027/28.

There are also planned reductions in the number of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff.

In 2025/26, the government has sought to prioritise funding to multilateral institutions (PDF) and spending on four situations (PDF): Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Ukraine and the UK’s Overseas Territories.

In November 2025 the government said indicative spending plans for future years were expected “in the coming months”. International Development Minister, Baroness Chapman, has also said the UK will now be:

An “investor”, not a “donor”
Supporting systems, rather than delivering services
Providing expertise, not grants
Backing locally led development

Humanitarian aid, climate, health and economic development remain thematic priorities.

The Commons International Development Committee has argued the government’s approach risks a loss of focus on poverty reduction. The government’s equality assessment of July 2025 also found negative effects of cuts on some education, health and equality programmes.

In March 2026, the UK will be hosting a conference to establish an International Peace Fund for Israel and Palestine. It may also host a global conference on the future of international development, with the date to be confirmed.

Partnership, localisation and finance beyond aid

Both Conservative and Labour governments have set out intentions to work more in “partnership” with countries that receive UK aid, to deliver more aid through local organisations, and to help countries raise their own finance.

The government’s Africa framework, published in December 2025, reiterates this collaborative aim. It will build on ongoing support for the implementation of the African free trade area and ties with the African Union.

The UK backed the G20 summit hosted by South Africa in 2025, whose communiqué called, among other actions, for mobilising more private and public finance to address climate change, debt relief, and reforms to multilateral organisations to allow more states to participate.

In June 2025 the UK launched the London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt. This aims to speed up reforms to the international debt architecture. The UK is also leading on a programme to scale up local taxes (PDF) in aid-recipient states, following the Sevilla financing conference of July 2025.

US international development post-USAID

Proposed fall in US foreign funding

The US has long been the largest single aid donor. In July 2025, the US aid agency, USAID, closed and its functions were transferred to the US State Department.

For the US fiscal year from 1 October 2025, the administration has proposed a 41% fall in spending on the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs, with planned spending totalling US$31.5 billion. It remains subject to congressional negotiations.

Withdrawal from many organisations

In 2025, the Trump administration announced its withdrawal from the World Health Organization and Paris Agreement on Climate Change. These will take effect in January 2026.

In January 2026, the US announced plans to withdraw from 66 bodies, including Education Cannot Wait (which supports education in crisis situations), the UN Population Fund (aid for sexual and reproductive health) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which assesses climate change).

It is also no longer funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and the US Secretary of Health has suggested the US will not fund Gavi, the vaccine alliance, in the future.

US$2 billion for UNOCHA

In December 2025, the US pledged US$2 billion for 17 focus countries via UNOCHA. These include Sudan and Syria but excludes areas such as Afghanistan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The funding conditions include no spending on climate-change related projects.

Announcing the pledge, the administration said it will remain “the world’s most generous nation”.

According to UN financial tracking data, in 2024 the US provided US$14.1 billion in humanitarian aid to the UN, or 38% of all global funding. It was the largest single contributor (Germany was second, at 8%).

New agreements on global health

While the US aid budget is falling, in 2025 it announced a new pledge to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

It has also announced a series of bilateral health agreements with African states, as part of the “America first global health strategy”.

While not all the agreements have been published, analysis by the Center for Global Development notes that the commitments represent a reduction from previous US health aid. Under the agreements, the countries have also undertaken specific initiatives, such as protecting Christians and supporting faith-based providers in Nigeria and a potential mining agreement in Zambia.

More economic and business investment

The Trump Administration has also increased the investment cap of the American Development Finance Corporation (DFC) from $60 to $205 billion, though with a wider geographic remit that includes higher income economies.

The DFC, like British International Investment (BII), does not provide grant-aid but makes investments in business and companies overseas. Both have the aim of creating jobs and reducing poverty.

Multilateral and UN reforms

In recent years, there has been an increased focus on reforming the humanitarian aid sector, including under the UN at 80 initiative.

The UK has said that the UN should be more “representative and more responsive”, and low income countries should have a greater voice in institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The UN Secretary General has commissioned reports that, among other conclusions, say “fragmentation” and “duplication” in UN agencies and in-country presences must be addressed. Proposals include merging UNAIDS into other organisations and merging the UN Population Fund with UN Women.

The UK’s International Development Minister, Baroness Chapman, has said that “underperforming multilateral organisations will face funding cuts in the future” from the UK, but has not set out details on this decision.