Rockefeller Foundation Calls for Urgent, Coordinated Response to Record Decline in Global Aid, per new OECD Data
- Official OECD preliminary data for 2025 shows a 23% decline in global ODA from 2024 — historic decrease
- Projections from ISGlobal research and The Lancet Global Health suggest this level of ODA decrease could lead to 9.4 million or more preventable deaths by 2030
- Rockefeller Foundation urges governments, the private sector, and philanthropy to coordinate urgently to protect decades of progress
NEW YORK, April 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rockefeller Foundation is issuing an urgent call for a global, coordinated response in light of preliminary official data released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) today confirming a 23% decline in official development assistance (ODA) from 2024 to 2025. As the largest single-year reduction in decades, the precipitous drop in ODA in 2025 surpasses the Barcelona Institute for Global Health's (ISGlobal) modeling assumptions, supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, that were published in The Lancet Global Health earlier this year. Projecting an initial ODA decline of 15.8% in 2025, with funding cuts continuing and worsening through the end of this decade, ISGlobal warned that at least 9.4 million additional people, including 2.5 million children under the age of five, could die by 2030 across 93 low- and middle-income countries.
"The OECD's data show that an 80-year consensus on working together to help the suffering is falling apart—but people in country after country around the world still want to save these lives," said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. "We urgently need to invest in new models of development that can endure in the 21st century. By focusing resources on those suffering acutely, harnessing new technology, and supporting country-led investments in food security, health, and energy, the world can save the 9 million or more lives at stake if we do not act."
For the first time in nearly three decades, the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany have now reduced their development assistance for two years running. The data, released today as part of the OECD's preliminary 2025 ODA figures exceed the OECD's own projections from mid-2025, which had forecast a decline of 9–18%.
Millions More Lives at Risk:
In February 2026, The Lancet Global Health published The Impact of Two Decades of Humanitarian and Development Assistance and the Projected Mortality Consequences of Current Defunding to 2030: Retrospective Evaluation and Forecasting Analysis, a peer-reviewed study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), supported by The Rockefeller Foundation through its charitable offshoot, RF Catalytic Capital. Based on an initial 15.8% cut in ODA from 2024 to 2025, with the funding cuts continuing and worsening through the end of this decade, it modelled two scenarios which found that at least 9.4 million additional deaths – including 2.5 million children under the age of five – could occur by 2030 across 93 low- and middle-income countries, which are home to 75% of the world's population.
The Rockefeller Foundation's Response:
The support for ISGlobal's research is part of The Rockefeller Foundation's Build the Shared Future Initiative, through which the 113-year-old philanthropic organization aims to inspire and inform global cooperation and international development work that matches the challenges of the 21st century. Work being advanced by The Rockefeller Foundation includes, but is not limited to:
- Building political will and support for International Cooperation, including by investing in research and evidence, to ensure policymakers understand the human cost of funding decisions, including continued support for ISGlobal's analysis and launching the Development Finance Observatory in 2025 with ONE Data and Google.org – with its initial analysis finding that over the last decade, China shifted from a net provider of finance for low- and middle-income countries (transferring US$48 billion) to a net extractor (pulling US$24 billion out), while multilateral lenders stepped up, boosting net financing by 124% and now providing 56% of net flows, or US$378.7 billion between 2020-2024.
- Demonstrating new models for development that can drive impact in this environment, including catalyzing partnerships with philanthropic organizations, multilateral institutions, and the private sector. This includes committing more than US$100 million since 2024 with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet to support Mission 300, the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank's ambitious effort to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030. It also includes advancing a first-of-its-kind School Meals Accelerator to reach an additional 100 million children by 2030, which founding partners, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), Novo Nordisk Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the World Food Programme (WFP) launched in January this year with additional support from France and the Global Partnership for Education.
- Reinvigorating financing flows to support global development, including optimizing the balance sheets of development funders to enable more financing, mobilizing more private capital, and supporting countries with addressing historically high debt service burdens.
Urgent Action Needed:
The Rockefeller Foundation urges donor governments to recommit to working together to help those around the world most in need. The Foundation also calls on the private sector, philanthropic organizations, and multilateral institutions to step forward with new commitments and innovative financing models.
"For 113 years, The Rockefeller Foundation has invested in the well-being of humanity around the world. We know from experience that progress is not inevitable — it must be planned, earned and sustained. What we are witnessing now is a choice by wealthy nations to walk away from commitments that were saving millions of lives. We refuse to accept this as the new normal and will work with all those who want to meet the moment," concluded Dr. Shah.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
Investing $30 billion over the last 113 years to promote the well-being of humanity, The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on unlikely partnerships and innovative solutions that deliver measurable results for people in the United States and around the world. We leverage scientific breakthroughs, artificial intelligence, and new technologies to make big bets across energy, food, health, and finance, including in affiliation with our public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC). For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn, Instagram @rockefellerfdn, YouTube @RockefellerFdn, and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation.
SOURCE Rockefeller Foundation
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