Poland on the way to SDGs. Report 2025

Official Development Assistance (ODA) is an important tool supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, especially in countries with lower potential. The aid provided by members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee increased from USD 152 billion in 2015 to a record high of over USD 200 billion in 2022–2024. It currently accounts for an average of 0.33% of the total gross national income (GNI) of the donor countries. This is still well below the target of 0.7% of GNI that these countries have committed to achieving by 2030. In the European Union, only four countries have maintained a 0.7% or higher level of GNI for several years, namely Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany and Denmark. At the other end of the spectrum are Cyprus, Hungary, Slovakia and Greece, with ODA at less than 0.15% of GNI.

Between 2015 and 2024, Poland provided a total of USD 14.7 billion in the framework of Official Development Assistance, of which almost 60% was transferred in the period of 2022–2024. The share of this aid in gross national income – for which Poland has set a target of 0.33% by 2030 – ranged from 0.1% in 2015 to 0.53% in 2022. The structure of Polish development assistance has changed significantly. Until 2021, most of the support (67-78% of ODA) was provided through multilateral cooperation, with bilateral cooperation accounting for only 22-33% of the total aid. Since 2022, the proportions have reversed, with bilateral cooperation increasing significantly (to around 70% of the total aid), mainly through support for Ukraine and other eastern priorities. Currently, the proportions are almost equal, with both forms of aid – multilateral and bilateral – constituting roughly half of Polish development assistance.

As regards multilateral cooperation, for years most of the funds (83–95%) have been channelled to recipients through the European Union, with the remainder going through organisations operating within the United Nations system, regional development banks and World Bank Group institutions. In the case of bilateral assistance, expenditure which dominated until 2021 was that on scholarships and student costs in Poland, as well as projects with a clearly defined purpose, budget, schedule and recipients in the partner country (‘project-type interventions’). These included e.g. the construction and equipping of schools, the modernisation of water and sewage systems and sewage treatment plants, and programmes supporting the development of civil society. These two categories of support (scholarships and student costs, and project-type interventions) together accounted for the average of approximately 75% of the total bilateral assistance annually. Since 2022, ‘other in-donor expenditures’ in the donor country has constituted the majority of bilateral assistance (approximately 80%). The OECD defines this kind of spending as expenditure aimed at promoting economic development or improving welfare in countries eligible for ODA. The increase in the share of this kind of expenditure in Poland resulted mainly from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. During this period, Poland received the largest number of refugees as compared to all other EU countries – nearly 1.6 million people in 2022 alone, which at that time accounted for 36% of all refugees from Ukraine.

Poland provides official development assistance (ODA) mainly to the Eastern Partnership states and to selected countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. These priorities are consistent with the Polish foreign policy, and reflect the objectives of the Multiannual Development Cooperation Programme for 2021–2030. In 2023, the largest share of support (9% of total ODA) went to Ukraine, to which Poland sent humanitarian, educational and economic aid.

Effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda Goals is possible under conditions of lasting financial stability of states. In the European Union, financial discipline is guaranteed by the member states’ compliance with the EU economic governance rules, including the Stability and Growth Pact (reformed in 2024). According to these rules, the general government deficit should not exceed 3% of GDP, and general government gross debt– 60% of GDP.

Between 2015 and 2024, the public finance situation varied across EU countries. Until 2019, most member states had a stable budgetary situation, with both the general government deficit and the gross debt gradually declining. The average deficit in the EU fell from 1.9% to 0.5% of GDP, and general government gross debt from 85% to 78% of GDP. The situation changed in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic, and later Russia's aggression of Ukraine (along with high energy, aid and defence spending) disrupted the budgetary balance. In 2020–2021, the average general government deficit in the EU rose to 5-7% of GDP, and gross debt to 90% of GDP. From 2022, when extraordinary support measures started to phase out, the public finance situation began to stabilise. In subsequent years, the general government deficit remained at around 3% of GDP, and gross debt at around 80% of GDP.

Currently, only six EU countries have a surplus in the general government sector. These are Denmark, Cyprus and Ireland (around 4% of GDP each), and Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal (around 1% of GDP each). The lowest general government gross debt (below 40% of GDP) is recorded in Estonia, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania and Ireland. Some of these countries (particularly Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark) have for years allocated the highest percentage of gross national income to official development assistance, significantly exceeding the UN target (0.7% of GNI).

In Poland, the years 2015–2019 saw a gradual stabilisation of public finances, with the general government deficit ranging from 0.2% to 2.6% of GDP. In 2020, during the pandemic, it reached 6.9% of GDP, exceeding the EU average and the 3% threshold. In subsequent years, the deficit in Poland was smaller, but it grew steadily – to 6.5% of GDP in 2024. Currently, it is one of the largest deficits in the EU, with only Romania performing worse than Poland in this respect. General government gross debt in Poland in 2015–2019 ranged from 45% to 54% of GDP. In 2020, it rose to almost 57%, but in 2023, it fell to around 50%. Currently, it stands at 55% of GDP, i.e. within the acceptable range. Among EU countries, as many as twelve exceed the 60% of GDP threshold, and in five of them, the debt is larger than 100% of GDP (including Greece, Italy and France).