Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Target 1.a. Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions

Indicator 1.a.1: Total official development assistance (ODA) grants from all donors that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the recipient country’s gross national income

Institutional information

Organization(s):

OECD

Concepts and definitions

Definition:

Total official development assistance (ODA) grants from all donors that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the recipient country’s gross national income.

The OECD/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) defines ODA as “flows to countries and territories on the DAC List of ODA Recipients and to multilateral institutions which are i) provided by official agencies, including state and local governments, or by their executive agencies; and ii) each transaction is administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as its main objective; and is concessional in character and conveys a grant element of at least 25 per cent (calculated at a rate of discount of 10 per cent). (See http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/officialdevelopmentassistancedefinitionandcoverage.htm).

Poverty reduction items can be defined as ODA to basic social services (basic health, basic education, basic water and sanitation, population programmes and reproductive health) and developmental food aid (see here: http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/purposecodessectorclassification.htm).

Concepts:

The OECD/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) defines ODA as “flows to countries and territories on the DAC List of ODA Recipients and to multilateral institutions which are i) provided by official agencies, including state and local governments, or by their executive agencies; and ii) each transaction is administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as its main objective; and is concessional in character and conveys a grant element of at least 25 per cent (calculated at a rate of discount of 10 per cent). (See http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/officialdevelopmentassistancedefinitionandcoverage.htm).

Basic social services and development food aid, which focus on poverty reduction, are defined using the following OECD Creditor Reporting System purpose codes, which identify the sector the activity is intended to target:

  • Basic Education (CRS codes 112xx)
  • Basic Health (CRS codes (122xx)
  • Water Supply and Sanitation (CRS codes 140xx)
  • Multisector aid for basic social services (CRS code 16050)
  • Development Food Aid (CRS code 52010)

The detailed list of CRS purpose codes and their definitions are available here: http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/purposecodessectorclassification.htm

Rationale:

Total ODA flows to developing countries quantify the public effort (excluding non- concessional flows and export credits), that all donors provide for the economic development and welfare of developing countries. Within ODA, basic social services and development food aid focus on poverty alleviation in developing countries.

Comments and limitations:

Data in the Creditor Reporting System (i.e. at an activity level), are available from 1973 onwards. However, the data coverage is considered complete since 1995 for commitments and 2002 for disbursements.

Methodology

Computation method:

From a donor country’s perspective: The sum of bilateral ODA grants by donor that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the donor country’s gross national income.

From a recipient country’s perspective: The sum of total ODA grants from all donors (i.e. DAC donors, multilateral organisations and other bilateral providers of development cooperation) that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the developing country’s gross national income.

Treatment of missing values:

  • At country level:

Due to high quality of reporting, no estimates are produced for missing data.

  • At regional and global levels:

Due to high quality of reporting, no estimates are produced for missing data.

Regional aggregates:

Global, regional and country figures are based on the sum of ODA grant flows for poverty reduction.

Sources of discrepancies:

DAC statistics are standardized on a calendar year basis for all donors and may differ from fiscal year data available in budget documents for some countries.

Methods and guidance available to countries for the compilation of the data at the national level:

The DAC statistical Reporting Directives govern the reporting of DAC statistics, and are reviewed and agreed by the DAC Working Party of Development Finance Statistics, see: https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD/DAC/STAT(2018)9/FINAL/en/pdf

Quality assurance:

The OECD/DAC Secretariat is responsible for verifying and validating data submissions from providers of development cooperation, as well as publishing the data.

Data sources

Description:

The OECD/DAC has been collecting data on official and private resource flows, from 1960 at an aggregate level, and 1973 at an activity level through the Creditor Reporting System (CRS data are considered complete from 1995 for commitments at an activity level and 2002 for disbursements).

The data are reported by donors according to the same standards and methodologies (see here: http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/methodology.htm).

Data are reported on an annual calendar year basis by statistical reporters in national administrations (aid agencies, Ministries of Foreign Affairs or Finance, etc.)

Collection process:

A statistical reporter is responsible for the collection of DAC statistics in each providing country/agency. This reporter is usually located in the national aid agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Finance etc.

The OECD prepares and sends a questionnaire on aid flows (at an activity level and aggregate level) to the national statistical reporter every year.

Data availability

Description:

Data are published on an annual basis in December for flows in the previous year.

Detailed 2019 flows will be published in December 2020.

Provisional data classification: Tier I

Time series:

The OECD/DAC has been collecting data on official and private resource flows, from 1960 at an aggregate level, and 1973 at an activity level through the Creditor Reporting System (CRS data are considered complete from 1995 for commitments at an activity level and 2002 for disbursements).

Disaggregation:

This indicator can be disaggregated by donor, by recipient country, by type of finance, by type of aid, by sub-sector, by policy marker (e.g. gender), etc.

Calendar

Data collection:

Data collection is annual. Detailed 2019 flows will be published in December 2020.

Data release:

Detailed 2019 flows will be published in December 2020.

Data providers

A statistical reporter is responsible for the collection of DAC statistics in each providing country/agency. This reporter is usually located in the national aid agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Finance etc.

Data compilers

OECD, Development Cooperation Directorate

References

URL:

See all links here: http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/methodology.htm

References:

See all links here: http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/methodology.htm