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Statistics at DFID

Information about National Statistics releases produced by the Department for International Development.

We produce 2 National Statistics publications:

  • Statistics on International Development
  • Provisional UK ODA as a proportion of Gross National Income (GNI)

News

Our annual publication ‘Statistics on International Development’ (SID) has now been released on 31 October 2013. This includes official figures for all UK aid spending over the 2012 calendar year, known as Official Development Assistance (ODA).

In response to user consultation and an internal review, the publication will now focus on ODA which is the key measure of aid used internationally. Statistics on UK Gross Public Expenditure on Development (GPEX) will be released separately from the SID publication by end of November. This change will improve the clarity of our publication and avoid any confusion between the 2 separate series.

Following a short quality review of the publication, DFID officials have been working closely with Treasury officials to develop improved methods for estimating ODA in 2 areas – EC ODA attributable to the UK and Gift Aid. The publication will reflect these changes. Please see the methodology note (PDF, 315KB, 3 pages) for further information about Gift Aid and the changes to the methodology.

We seek to continuously improve our publication and welcome feedback from users. If you have any feedback on the SID publication, including the changes outlined above, please send comments to statistics@dfid.gov.uk.

Statistics on International Development

Statistics on International Development (SID) – this is an annual publication that provides an overview of official UK spend on international development. The publication covers:

  • total UK spend on international development for the latest 2012 calendar year
  • trends over the past 5 years
  • key breakdowns by destination country or organisation, type of assistance and purpose
  • international comparisons

The report is structured as follows:

Section 1: Introduction (PDF, 157KB, 5 pages) This gives an overview of the publication and puts UK ODA into a wider context and explains key changes which have been made to the publication.

Section 2: Understanding aid expenditure statistics (PDF, 162KB, 6 pages) This section provides a summary of the key terms used throughout the publication, explaining the definition of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and other key terms such as bilateral aid and multilateral aid. Descriptions of the classifications used to summarise the different types of aid and different sectors that the UK supports are also included. A glossary describing all terms is provided at Annex 1.

Section 3: Statistics on UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) (PDF, 837KB, 59 pages) This section provides a summary of the latest statistics on UK expenditure on Official Development Assistance (ODA). It covers the following: UK ODA flows – summary of how ODA has changed over time, Where UK ODA goes – regional and sectoral breakdowns, UK ODA by government department - total ODA spend by all official agencies of the UK government, DFID programme - information on ODA delivered by DFID and Comparisons between the UK and other DAC donors - showing how the UK compares internationally.

Annex 1: Glossary (PDF, 192KB, 15 pages) glossary of terms

Annex 2: Data sources (PDF, 140KB, 4 pages) details the data sources used to produce Statistics on International Development

Annex 3: Data quality (PDF, 128KB, 2 pages) details the strengths and weaknesses of data sources

Statistics on UK gross public expenditure (GPEX) on International Development 2012/13

This release provides statistics on UK Gross Public Expenditure (GPEX) on International Development from 2008/09 to 2012/13. The data includes expenditure by the Department for International Development, known as the DFID programme, and other UK Government Departments.

In previous years, GPEX statistics were published as part of the National Statistics publication ‘Statistics on International Development’, known as SID. In response to user consultation, GPEX statistics are now published separately via this release.

Statistical series

Quality review

Short quality review of DFID’s National Statistics

The Department for International Development’s (DFID) new Chief Statistician conducted a short quality review of DFID’s National Statistics publications and data systems. Below is a summary of the main recommendations and planned actions coming out of this review (Section 1) and more detailed information about the findings of the quality review (Section 2). We would welcome feedback on the findings and on the planned actions. If you would like to provide comments, please send these to enquiry@dfid.gov.uk

Short quality review of DFID's National Statistics (PDF, 221KB, 13 pages)

Archived statistics

You can find statistics published since May 2009 on GOV.UK. Our archived statistics are available from the National Archives

Provisional UK ODA as a proportion of gross national income (GNI)

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) collects data on donor countries aid flows to developing countries and multilateral organisations. This is a useful source of data for comparing donors.

The main statistic used from DAC data is Official Development Assistance (ODA), which is defined as “grants and concessional loans for development and welfare purposes from the government sector of a donor country to a developing country or multilateral agency active in development”. ODA includes the costs to the donor of project or programme aid, technical cooperation, debt forgiveness, food and emergency aid and associated administration costs.

According to the UN target established in 1970, each donor should aim to spend 0.7% of its Gross National Income (GNI) as ODA. DFID reports on progress against this target twice a year using provisional data in March and finalised data later in the year, which is published in Statistics on International Development.

In March provisional data on the previous calendar year is reported to the DAC in the ‘Advanced Questionnaire’. This information is also published in the National Statistics release, Provisional UK ODA as a proportion of GNI.

Later in the year finalised data is reported in the ‘DAC Questionnaire’ and the ‘Creditor Reporting System’. Information on final ODA is published in the DFID National Statistics release, Statistics on International Development.

More detailed breakdowns of ODA from the UK and from other donors is available through the DAC’s Query Wizard on International Development (QWIDS). Visit the DAC’s website to find out more about what is included in the ODA definition.

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