All about the United Nations Budget
June 2006

Background
The United Nations receives its annual funding from the governments of its 191 member states. Countries are assessed an amount to pay biannually to certain budgets while other contributions to the UN system are considered optional. The UN has three budgets, described below, from which it draws mandatory financial support to keep its programs and agencies running. Mandatory funding refers to the regular budget, peacekeeping budget, and contributions to several tribunals and organizations. Countries that fail to pay their mandatory dues risk the loss of their vote in the General Assembly. Additionally, states make voluntary contributions to the UN's humanitarian and development programs. 

The UN's Budgets
The UN regular budget provides funding for the General Assembly, the Secretariat, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the International Court of Justice. Additionally, the regular budget provides partial funding for certain UN agencies, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Environment Program.  

The UN peacekeeping budget pays for military operations enacted by the Security Council. As of mid-2006, the UN had more than 70,000 soldiers, police and military observers conducting missions in 15 nations, including Haiti, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

"Voluntary funding" is the term used to describe all monies donated to humanitarian and development programs under the UN banner. The UN Development Program, the World Food Program and the UN Children's Fund are examples of programs that are funded entirely through donation. Member states pick and choose programs which they feel are worthy enough to receive funding. Some argue that this leads nations to champion certain causes while forgetting others, resulting in a "UN a la carte" as Iqbal Haji, principal officer of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, calls it in his 1997 work The "Problem" of Voluntary Funding. Furthermore, by earmarking funds to certain expenditures, nations are given yet another form of financial leverage over the UN system. Others believe that forcing such agencies to rely solely on voluntary funds increases their efficiency and decreases potential corruption by forcing each agency to compete for funding.  

International war crimes tribunals are financed by funds from assessed contributions to the regular budget and money from the peacekeeping budget. In 2004 and 2005, the UN spent $329.3 million on the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and $255.9 million on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

How funds are collected
The assessment, or amount of money each UN member state is requested to contribute to the regular budget, is created by the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly every third year (the last budget assessments were released in December 2005). Contribution assessments are based on each member's ability to pay: factors such as national income, population and level of debt are considered when calculating a nation's assessment. Wealthier nations contribute significantly more than their poorer counterparts. For example, France was assessed 6 percent of the regular budget in 2006 while Liberia was assessed 0.001 percent.

Once the regular budget assessments are made, the peacekeeping budget can be computed. The peacekeeping budget is based on regular budget rates, or a percentage of the budget a state pays. Although every member must contribute at least 0.0001 percent ($19,248 in 2006 and 2007) of the regular budget, not all member states are required to contribute to the peacekeeping budget. Discounts are made for nations deemed unable to spend on the peacekeeping budget. To make up for these discounts, the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and United States) pay extra fees. This concession is made to ease the financial burden of UN participation on developing nations; it also has to do with the fact that only the five permanent members of the Security Council can vote on and veto peacekeeping actions taken by the UN. There is an established ceiling rate: A nation can only contribute a maximum of 22 percent to the regular budget. (The ceiling rate was lowered by the Fifth Committee in December 2000 from 25 percent to the current 22 percent and only affects the US as it is the UN's largest contributor.)
 

The US share of the UN budget
The United States is assessed for the regular budget at the ceiling rate of 22 percent, which in 2006 was $423,464,855 of the total $1,924,840,250. This works out to be a contribution of about $1.42 per American citizen, according to 2006 census data. Japan, the second largest contributor to the regular budget at 19.47 percent, pays $374,727,900 or about $3.94 per citizen in comparison.

For the peacekeeping budget, the US is assessed 27 percent. In 2005, this amounted to about $1.28 billion, but by the end of 2005, the US still owed $521 million of that $1.28 billion to the UN for peacekeeping dues.


The US government's budget in relation to the UN
The US budget is determined by Congress after the president makes initial requests. The Bush administration, for example, requested $1.26 billion for mandatory contributions to the UN, UN agencies and other international organizations for the Fiscal Year 2007 (October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007). Included in this request was $422.7 million for the UN regular budget and $1.13 billion in peacekeeping dues. (As of June 2006, it is too early to evaluate whether these sums have reached their intended recipients.) In 2005, the US contributed $31 million toward the operation of war crimes tribunals. For more information on specific areas of US funding of the UN, visit: www.unausa.org/site/pp.asp?c=fvKRI8MPJpF&b=667579


Arrears and late payments
As referenced above, the US has accrued a large amount of debt, or arrears, to the UN. (Arrears refer to the portion of a state's assessment that remains unpaid after it is due). By 2005, the US owed $963.1 million in total to the UN in dues to the regular and peacekeeping budgets. At the same time, the US gave $8.7 billion to voluntary causes in 2003, the last year the UN released information on donations to programs funded in this manner.  

Although the US does contribute a large share of the UN budget, one should consider this information in the context of World GDP (the total wealth produced on Earth). When GDP is measured by purchasing power parity (a method of calculation that looks at how much goods and services cost in different countries as opposed to exchange rates), the US takes in 20.9 percent of global GDP. If one divides the percent of US contribution to the UN budget by America's share of world wealth, the ratio is almost one-to-one. Other wealthy states contribute significantly more given their share of global wealth. For example, using the same formula as above: Japan: 2.9; Germany: 2.1; France: 1.8; UK: 2.2; Canada: 1.6; and Italy: 1.7. There are, however, nations that contribute much less, such as Russia: 0.4, and China: 0.2.   

In addition, the US has a record of late payments to the UN, turning in its assessed contributions almost a full year late, and thus leaving the UN and its agencies in capricious financial states for several months. In fact, it has been US practice since the early 1980s to pay late based on a one-time budgetary dilemma. As it stands today, the UN issues its regular budget assessments at the beginning of each calendar year and expects payment within one month, but Congress does not appropriate funds for the UN until late in the calendar year. However, the US is hardly alone in its late payments-only 40 member states out of 191 paid on time in 2006. In fact, since each state comes up with its own excuse for meeting assessment deadlines, late payment is considered standard practice by many nations.

Table 1: Contributions to the UN Regular Budget from the Permanent Members of the Security Council as of June 2006

Nation

Assessed Percentage

Amount in US Dollars

China

2.05

$35,036,460

France

6.03

$102,907,868

Russia

1.10

$18,772,580

United Kingdom

6.13

$104,563,268

United States

22.00

$423,464,855

Table 2: Other Notable Contributions to the UN Regular Budget as of June 2006

Nation or Grouping

Assessed Percentage

Amount in US Dollars

United States

22.00

$423,464,855

Japan

19.47

$374,727,900

Germany

8.66

$147,825,532

United Kingdom

6.13

$104,563,268

France

6.03

$102,907,868

Italy

4.89

$83,367,319

Canada

2.81

$48,006,605

Spain

2.52

$43,006,274

China

2.05

$35,036,460

Mexico

1.88

$32,135,243

The G-77

9.64

$185,554,600

The Lowest 128 Contributors

0.966

$18,593,956


Additional resources
Global Policy Forum
United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations
US State Department Bureau of Resource Management

For more information
Contact Peggy Atherlay, UNA-USA's Communications Director, at 212-907-1320 or patherlay@unausa.org

Published by the United Nations Association of the USA

The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) is a center for innovative programs and dialogue to engage Americans in issues of global concern, from peace and security to genocide prevention and international law. Its policy and advocacy programs support the work of the United Nations, the importance of nations working together and the need for strong United States leadership in the United Nations. A not-for-profit organization, UNA-USA is a member of the World Federation of United Nations Associations.


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