Donor Government Assistance for Family Planning in 2014

Executive Summary

For the second consecutive year following the London Summit on Family Planning, held in 2012, donor governments increased funding for family planning efforts. In 2014, the most recent year for which data are available, donor governments provided US$1.4 billion to support bilateral family planning programs in low- and middle-income countries, an increase of more than $100 million (9%) above 2013 levels and 32% above 2012 levels. The growth in bilateral funding between 2013 and 2014 was largely due to increases from the U.S., France, the U.K., and Sweden. Of the ten donor governments profiled, eight made specific commitments during the London Summit and all eight are on track to meet these commitments. In addition to bilateral funding, which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organizations, donor governments also contributed US$472 million in core contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2014, a US$15 million (3%) increase above 2013 levels and 8% above 2012 levels.

The Kaiser Family Foundation initiated a family planning resource tracking project in 2013, adapting the methodology it has long used to track donor government spending on HIV.¹  This year’s report is based on analysis of 2014 funding data from the 29 governments who were members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in 2014 and had reported Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the DAC.²  Data were collected directly from ten donors, who represent approximately 99% of bilateral family planning funding: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. Data for the remaining DAC members were obtained from the OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS).

Key findings include:

• In 2014, donor governments provided US$1.4 billion for bilateral family planning programs, representing a 9% increase (+US$120.5 million) compared to 2013 (US$1.3 billion), and 32% (+US$349.1 million) above 2012 (US$1.1 billion) (see Table 1 and Appendix 1).
• Seven donors (Canada, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Sweden, U.S., and U.K.) increased bilateral funding in 2014 (after exchange rate fluctuations are taken into account), while two (Australia and Norway)³ remained essentially flat and one decreased (Germany).⁴
• Most of the bilateral increase was driven by the U.S., followed by France, the U.K. and Sweden.
• The U.S. was the single largest bilateral donor in 2014, providing US$636.6 million and accounting for almost half (44%) of total bilateral funding. The U.K. (US$327.6 million, 23%) was the second largest bilateral donor, accounting for nearly a quarter of all funding, followed by the Netherlands (US$163.6 million, 11%), Sweden (US$70.2 million, 5%), and France (US$69.8 million, 5%).
• Eight of the ten donors profiled made specific commitments during the London Summit 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 expenditures between 2012-2014, all eight donors have made progress towards fulfillment of their stated commitments (see Appendix 2).
• In addition to donor contributions to UNFPA that are earmarked for family planning, and are therefore counted as bilateral funding above, donors also provided US$472 million in core contributions to UNFPA, representing a US$15 million (3%) increase above 2013 levels (US$457 million) and 8% (+US$34.4 million) above 2012 levels (US$438 million). Among the donor governments profiled, Sweden provided the largest core contribution to UNFPA in 2014 (US$70.3 million), followed by Norway (US$69.1 million), the Netherlands (US$48.4 million), and Denmark (US$41.9).⁶