Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the latest figure of the annual average percentage of gross domestic product paid by contributing countries in official development assistance; and what would be the cost to the United Kingdom if it used that average in assessing its own aid programme.

Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is reported by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC) through its donor states as a proportion of Gross National Income (GNI). DFID calculates ODA disbursements to measure its stated goal of achieving 0.7% during 2013 and in order that international comparisons can be made with other DAC donor states.

The average ODA to GNI ratio for 2013 for all DAC donor states is 0.397%. The UK GNI for 2013 (using the ESA95 unadjusted for (Eurostat) reservations methodology) was £1,622,166m. If the average percentage were applied, the UK contribution would be £6,437m.