Sub-Saharan Africa: Net official flows from UN agencies, UNHCR (current US$)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa's net official flows from UN agencies, UNHCR (current US$) rose 6.3% on 2022 (from US$215.24 million to US$228.79 million).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1993 to 2022), the average change was +137.5% and a typical year strayed about 707% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3,868.8% in 2015 and the biggest yearly fall was 97.6% in 2014. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 the straight-line trend is upward, about US$25.21 million a year. A straight line explains 59% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

Net official flows from UN agencies are the net disbursements of total official flows from the UN agencies. Total official flows are the sum of Official Development Assistance (ODA) or official aid and Other Official Flows (OOF) and represent the total disbursements by the official sector at large to the recipient country. Net disbursements are gross disbursements of grants and loans minus repayments of principal on earlier loans. ODA consists of loans made on concessional terms (with a grant element of at least 25 percent, calculated at a rate of discount of 10 percent) and grants made to promote economic development and welfare in countries and territories in the DAC list of ODA recipients. Official aid refers to aid flows from official donors to countries and territories in part II of the DAC list of recipients: more advanced countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the countries of the former Soviet Union, and certain advanced developing countries and territories. Official aid is provided under terms and conditions similar to those for ODA. Part II of the DAC List was abolished in 2005. The collection of data on official aid and other resource flows to Part II countries ended with 2004 data.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a sum.

All 55 values

Net official flows from UN agencies, UNHCR (current US$) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — US$6.04 million (2023)
• Algeria — US$2.52 million (2023)
• Djibouti — US$4.63 million (2023)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — US$2.11 million (2022)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — US$6.3 million (2023)
• Iraq — US$23.87 million (2023)
• Jordan — US$23.74 million (2023)
• Lebanon — US$4.9 million (2023)
• Libya — US$4.52 million (2022)

More economic policy & debt data for Sub-Saharan Africa

• Charges for the use of intellectual property, payments (BoP, current US$) — US$3.07 billion (2025)
• Portfolio equity, net inflows (BoP, current US$) — −US$459.34 million (2025)
• GDP (current US$) — US$2.21 trillion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$2.13 trillion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$1,673 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$1,615 (2025)
• GDP (annual % growth) — 4.14% (2025)
• GDP per capita (annual % growth) — 1.64% (2025)
• Charges for the use of intellectual property, receipts (BoP, current US$) — US$473.66 million (2025)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Sub-Saharan Africa's net official flows from UN agencies, UNHCR (current US$)?

US$228.79 million in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1969?

It is up 4,258% from US$5.25 million in 1969 (7.24% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$515.7 million in 1994 and the lowest US$2.93 million in 2014.

Is the latest change in net official flows from UN agencies, UNHCR (current US$) unusual for Sub-Saharan Africa?

In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa's net official flows from UN agencies, UNHCR (current US$) rose 6.3% on 2022 (from US$215.24 million to US$228.79 million). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1993 to 2022), the average change was +137.5% and a typical year strayed about 707% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator DT.NFL.UNCR.CD, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Development Assistance Committee, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), uri: https://stats.oecd.org/; Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows to Developing Countries, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), uri: https://stats.oecd.org/; Developmen… Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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