Donor Government Assistance for Family Planning in 2013

In the time since the London Summit on Family Planning (FP2020) convened in 2012, donor governments have increased their support for family planning efforts. In 2013, the most recent year for which data are available, donor governments provided $1.3 billion to support bilateral family planning programs in low- and middle-income countries, an increase of more than $200 million (19%) above 2012 levels. This growth was largely due to increased funding from the U.S., the U.K., and the Netherlands, already the three largest donors to bilateral family planning programs. Donor governments also provided US$454 million in core contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – the primary multilateral organization addressing family planning – an increase of US$22 million (5%) above 2012 levels. In addition, preliminary data indicate that donors are making progress toward commitments made at FP2020.

The Kaiser Family Foundation initiated a family planning resource tracking project last year, adapting the methodology it has long used to monitor donor government spending on HIV.¹ Data for the project were first provided for 2012, establishing a baseline for monitoring FP2020 commitments. This year’s report is based on 2013 funding data from 26 governments who were members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in 2013 and had reported Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the DAC.² Data were collected directly from ten donors, who represent approximately 98% of bilateral family planning funding, and are profiled in this report: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. Data for the remaining DAC members was obtained from the OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS).

Key findings include:

• In 2013, donor governments provided US$1.3 billion for bilateral family planning programs, representing a 19% increase (+$211.4 million) compared to 2012 (US$1.1 billion), and an additional US$454 million in core contributions to UNFPA, representing a US$22 million (5%) increase over 2012 (US$432.2 million)³ (see Table and Appendix 1).
• Seven donors (Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, U.S., and U.K.) increased bilateral funding in 2013 (after exchange rate fluctuations are taken into account), while one (Australia) remained essentially flat and two decreased (France and Germany).
• Most of the bilateral increase was driven by the U.S., followed by the U.K. and the Netherlands.
• The U.S. was the single largest bilateral donor in 2013, providing US$585 million and accounting for almost half (45%) of total bilateral funding. The U.K. (US$305.2 million, 23%) was the second largest bilateral donor, accounting for nearly a quarter of all funding, followed by the Netherlands (US$153.7 million, 12%), Sweden (US$50.4 million, 4%), and Canada (US$45.6 million, 3%).
• Among the donor governments profiled, Norway provided the largest core contribution to UNFPA in 2013 (US$70.6 million), and drove most of the increase, followed by Sweden (US$65.8 million), the Netherlands (US$52.4 million), and Denmark (US$40.4).⁴
• Eight of the ten donors profiled made specific commitments during the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning to increase their spending on family planning over a multi-year period: Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the U.K.⁵ Based on analysis of their 2012 and 2013 expenditures, these eight donors have made progress towards fulfillment of their stated commitments (see Appendix 2).