The UN budget between reform imperative and the funding crisis

The United Nations budget reflects the scale of resources approved by Member States to finance the Organization’s core activities and programmes. The discussions surrounding the budget also reveal differences among Member States over spending priorities, administrative efficiency, and the functions that the Organization should undertake. The United Nations deals with a wide range of issues, including peacekeeping, human rights, development, humanitarian assistance, and political mediation. As the scope of these responsibilities has expanded, Member States regularly debate the level of funding required, as well as the sources of funding and the mechanisms through which it is spent. The debate is not limited to the overall size of the budget. It also covers the entities responsible for financing it, the timing of payments, and the distinction between the budget formally approved and the cash actually available to the Organization.

How Does the UN Budget Work Article 17 of the Charter of the United Nations provides that the expenses of the Organization shall be borne by the Members as apportioned by the General Assembly. Member States do not independently determine the amount of their contributions. Instead, the General Assembly adopts a scale of assessments based on recommendations from the Committee on Contributions. The methodology is primarily based on the capacity to pay. Under the scale of assessments for the 2025–2027 period, the minimum assessment for a Member State is 0.001%, while the ceiling applicable to the least developed countries is 0.01%. The overall ceiling for the contribution of any single Member State is 22%. These limits differ from the scale used to finance UN peacekeeping operations, which applies additional adjustments to Member States’ assessments. Accordingly, assessed contributions constitute financial obligations of Member States rather than voluntary donations in the conventional sense. They also differ from voluntary funding provided by governments to specific programmes, funds, or agencies.

Who Decides the Budget
The process begins with the Secretary- General preparing the proposed budget. The proposal is then reviewed by the relevant committee dealing with administrative and financial matters. Following negotiations and revisions, the committee submits its recommendations to the General Assembly, which has the final authority to approve the budget. Since 2020, the United Nations has moved experimentally from a biennial budget cycle to an annual budget cycle.

In December 2022, the General Assembly decided to retain the annual budget system on a permanent basis. The annual system enables Member States to review resources and priorities more frequently. However, it also increases the extent to which the budget is linked to annual negotiations and the economic circumstances prevailing in each year.

The Evolution of the Budget in Figures
The General Assembly approved a budget of approximately $3.12 billion for 2022. The 2023 budget stood at approximately $3.4 billion following negotiations and adjustments. The budget for 2024 amounted to approximately $3.59 billion, while the budget for 2025 rose to $3.72 billion. For 2026, the General Assembly approved a budget of $3.45 billion. The 2026 budget is therefore approximately $270 million lower than the 2025 budget, representing a decline of around 7.3%. At the same time, the final approved budget for 2026 is approximately $330 million higher than the final approved budget for 2022, representing an increase of around 10.6%.

What Is the UN80 Initiative The United Nations launched the UN80 Initiative in 2025 to review the way the Organization operates as it marked the 80th anniversary of its establishment. The initiative is based on three main tracks:

First: reforms aimed at improving efficiency and reducing operating costs.

Second: a review of the Organization’s functions, including identifying areas where duplication or overlapping responsibilities exist.

Third: examining how the UN system can be restructured to become more efficient and responsive. From a professional perspective, the reduction in the 2026 budget can be understood as being linked to an administrative reform programme rather than simply an automatic decline in funding. Determining whether these reforms will result in greater efficiency, however, requires an assessment of their outcomes after implementation.

The regular budget approved by the General Assembly differs from the amount of cash actually available to the Organization at any given time. When Member States delay the payment of their assessed contributions, the United Nations may face difficulties in financing certain activities according to the planned timetable, even when the final budget has been formally approved. In 2025, reports indicated that the Organization faced cash-flow pressures and adopted measures that included reducing expenditure and delaying certain recruitment activities.

The United States is the largest contributor to the UN regular budget, with an assessment of 22%, the maximum percentage assigned to a single Member State under the scale of assessments for 2025–2027. China accounts for 20.004% under the same scale, making the two countries together responsible for approximately 42.004% of the regular budget, or more than 40%. They are followed by Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, according to the scale of assessments for 2025–2027. These figures mean that any change in the position of a major contributing country regarding the size of the budget or the timing of its payments can have an impact on both negotiations and the cash available to the Organization.

Positions of Member States on Budget Reductions
As the largest contributor, the United States has called for greater efficiency and a review of spending. US policy towards certain international bodies and programmes has also varied between administrations. Subsequent US positions regarding reductions in participation in certain international institutions and bodies have once again brought the issue of the future of US financing for the United Nations to the forefront. China, whose official assessment under the 2025–2027 scale stands at 20.004%, is the second-largest contributor. Discussions concerning China therefore include both the size of its contribution and the timing of payments, as a delay in a major contribution can affect the Organization’s liquidity during a particular period. Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France are also among the major contributors. To varying degrees, these countries support improvements in efficiency, financial oversight, and the reduction of duplication. At the same time, they generally emphasize that reductions in resources should not disrupt mandates approved by Member States. Some countries support reducing administrative expenditure or eliminating duplication while opposing cuts to field programmes. Other countries may support increased funding in specific areas while calling for reductions elsewhere. Consequently, disagreements generally focus on the scale of reductions, the timing of programmes, which functions can be reduced, and the level of oversight required, as well as the impact of budget reductions on developing countries and field missions.

Countries that bear the largest shares of assessed contributions may benefit if a reduction in the final approved budget results in lower financial obligations in the future. The Organization itself may also benefit if the review succeeds in eliminating duplication, improving management, and directing resources towards higherpriority programmes. At the same time, developing countries and countries hosting UN missions could be affected if resource shortages result in reductions in programmes or services. Potentially affected areas include assistance to civilians in conflict zones, refugees and displaced persons, human rights programmes, and development programmes. The least developed countries could also be affected, as could mediation and conflict-prevention efforts, humanitarian assistance programmes, and peacekeeping operations.

The final approved regular budget of $3.45 billion does not represent all United Nations expenditure. The budget for peacekeeping operations is separate from the regular budget. The peacekeeping budget for the 2024– 2025 financial period amounted to approximately $5.6 billion. Peacekeeping missions require continuous funding for troops, equipment, transportation, security, and logistical operations. Delays in contributions can therefore affect their ability to carry out certain tasks, even when the peacekeeping budget itself has been formally approved. When analysing the United Nations’ financial situation, it is therefore essential to distinguish between the UN regular budget, the peacekeeping budget, voluntary funding for programmes and funds, and in-kind contributions supporting UN projects.

Their Contributions Several factors can affect a country’s ability to make payments, including inflation, higher interest rates, wars, and other crises that may increase military and security expenditure for some governments. Domestic economic pressures are also among the factors that may explain part of the financing difficulties. However,these factors alone do not establish the reason for every country’s payment delays, as financial and political circumstances differ from one country to another. The impact of the budget reduction cannot therefore be assessed solely by looking at the overall figure. It must also be assessed in terms of which programmes will be affected, how many positions will be eliminated or redistributed, and how resources will be reallocated. It is also essential, when analysing the figures, to distinguish between the proposed budget and actual expenditure, as well as between the approved appropriations and the cash actually available to the Organization. Ultimately, the challenge facing Member States is to strike a balance between controlling expenditure, preserving the United Nations’ core responsibilities, and ensuring that the Organization has the resources required to carry them out effectively.