Criteria and definitions

Recipient countries

The list of ODA recipients drawn up by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows all countries and territories eligible for ODA. These consist of low and middle income countries with the exception of G8 members, EU members and countries with a firm date for entry into the EU; the list currently contains 142 countries.

List of ODA recipients

Multilateral organisations active in the development sphere

The DAC list of ODA-eligible international organisations shows all organisations eligible for ODA (Annex 2). An organisation will only be deemed ODA-eligible with the agreement of all members of the Working Party on Development Finance Statistics (WP-STAT) following an assessment by the Working Party’s Secretariat.

DAC list of ODA-eligible international organisations

Public sector contributions

State and local governments or their executive agencies.

Concessional contributions

ODA must be provided on favorable terms. It can take the form of grants, but other types of contributions are also recordable, such as equity investments in development banks and concessional loans.

In 2019, the grant equivalent method became the standard for the accounting of sovereign and multilateral loans. A monetary equivalent is calculated on the basis of the loan's grant element (interest rate, maturity, grace period): the more generous the loan, the higher the value that can be recorded as ODA.

Main purpose

To promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries.

ODA is considered bilateral when it is intended for specific countries or sectors; it is considered multilateral when general contributions are made to international organisations. 

Multilateral ODA includes general contributions made to multilateral organisations in the DAC list (Annex 2), which includes UN organisations, international financial institutions (development banks and funds) and other international development agencies. 

Contributions to organisations whose activities do not focus exclusively on developing countries are only partly recorded as ODA. DAC coefficients, which identify the proportion of these organisations’ activities dedicated to promoting development, are applied. 

Only general contributions meant to fund all of these organisations’ programmes and operating costs are considered multilateral ODA. Contributions to international organisations that are earmarked for specific projects, programmes or countries are recorded as bilateral ODA. The term 'multi-bilateral aid' is sometimes used for this type of contribution. 

It should also be noted that contributions to international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), are considered bilateral ODA. General contributions to multilateral organisations that are not on the DAC list are not ODA-eligible.

Switzerland's ODA comes mainly from the framework credits for the international cooperation of the Confederation which are approved every four years by Parliament. These five credits include SDC humanitarian aid and development cooperation, SECO’s economic and trade policy measures, Transition cooperation in Eastern Europe implemented jointly by SDC and SECO, as well as the promotion of peace and human security of the FDFA’s Peace and Human Rights Division (PHRD).

In addition to the credits of the international cooperation, ODA also includes contributions from other federal offices, as well as assistance of cantons and communes. In accordance with the DAC’s reporting rules, since 2004 Switzerland has also declared as part of its ODA bilateral debt relief measures (within the framework of the Paris Club) and certain costs related to the reception of asylum seekers from developing countries during their first year in Switzerland.

Non-ODA flows account for a significant proportion of development finance. In the case of Switzerland, these include mainly private capital flows at market terms (foreign direct investment, bank loans), export credits guaranteed by the federal government, and private donations by non-governmental organisations and foundations. Workers’ remittances add to these flows: these remittances sent by expatriate workers from Switzerland to developing countries amount to more than CHF 2 billion per year.