Funding
Compendium
2025
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Funding landscape
Regular resources
Other resources & Partnerships

UNDP Funding Compendium 2025

Regular resources

The case for core resources in 2025

Flexible foundation for impact

Core funding provides UNDP with flexible, predictable resources that enable it to respond rapidly to emerging challenges while maintaining a focus on long-term development goals in 170 countries and territories.

Reaching those most in need

The lion’s share of the core programme budget is channelled through country programmes. In 2022–2025, over 80 percent of these resources (TRAC-1, TRAC-2 and TRAC-3) were allocated to least developed countries, and over 70 percent to low-income countries, prioritizing the “last mile”—the poorest and most excluded populations.

Multiplier effect

Core funding is a smart investment and acts as a catalyst for additional investment.

Crisis readiness and response

UNDP spends 52 percent of its resources in fragile contexts, investing in all 61 countries defined as fragile by the OECD. Core resources enable early warning analysis, crisis prevention advocacy and immediate responses to conflicts and disasters. In Ukraine, UNDP's core-funded presence supported the assessment of 94,000 km² of potentially mine-contaminated land, including over 36,000 km² of agricultural land, while expanding access to digital public services for 466,101 internally displaced people and strengthening both recovery and resilience.

Pioneering innovative approaches to development

Core funding enables UNDP to push the boundaries on frontier development issues. For example, it supports the Accelerator Labs Network across 115 countries, which has identified more than 6,000 grass-roots solutions to development challenges.

Governance and electoral support

From 2022–2025, UNDP supported processes involving 911.3 million registered voters across 78 elections in 51 countries. In the Philippines, for example, core funding enabled UNDP to support the uptake of digital tools to increase transparency in campaign financing and strengthen voter education, reaching 2,260 voters, including youth, women, Indigenous communities and traditional leaders.

Digital transformation

With core resources, UNDP helps countries harness digital technologies to improve governance, service delivery and inclusion. In 2025, UNDP supported digital transformation in over 130 countries, enabling 49 million people to benefit from digital services and technologies while helping governments strengthen digital public infrastructure and innovative solutions for sustainable development.

Climate action at scale

As the largest UN provider of climate assistance, UNDP helps nations strengthen their environmental commitments, secure vital financing and implement equitable energy transitions. Initially launched with core resources, UNDP's Climate Promise has grown to support 90 percent of developing countries in designing and implementing ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions.

Operational excellence

Core funding maintains UNDP’s global infrastructure and quality standards, supporting independent oversight functions, including evaluation, ethics and development effectiveness. In 2025, UNDP received its 20th consecutive clean audit from the UN Board of Auditors, having stewarded over $100 billion in total revenue over 20 years while maintaining the highest standards of accountability and transparency.

Efficiency across the UN system

Core resources also drive greater efficiency and improve coordination across the entire UN system. UNDP is the single largest contributor to the UN Resident Coordinator System. It delivers dependable services to over 70 UN entities and manages 136 UN common premises globally, providing common services at the country level.

Trust and transformation

By investing in core funding, partners support a model that promotes national agency, reduces dependency and creates lasting, transformative change.

Lion’s share goes to programmes

The lion’s share of the core programme budget for 2022–2025 is channelled through country programmes.

Strong support for least developed and low-income countries

Over 80 percent of core resources are allocated to least developed countries where development needs are greatest, and 78 percent to low-income countries.



2022–2025 distribution of regular (core) resources by development status, Core: TRAC-1, TRAC-2 and TRAC-3

2022–2025 distribution of regular (core) resources by country typology, Core: TRAC-1, TRAC-2 and TRAC-3

Africa receives the largest share

In line with development needs, the largest share of core resources is allocated to Africa, followed by Asia and the Arab States.


2022–2025 distribution of regular (core) resources by region
Core: TRAC-1, TRAC-2 and TRAC-3

The institutional budget enables programmatic impact

UNDP’s institutional budget supports investments in institutional capacity, development effectiveness, the maintenance of the highest levels of independent oversight, transparency and accountability, and special-purpose initiatives (UNV and UNCDF).


Core contributors

In 2025, UNDP received $442 million in core contributions.

*Includes core contributions for 2024 received in 2025
**Includes core contributions for 2026 received in 2025

Partners with multi-year pledges to regular resources

In 2025, UNDP received $442 million in core contributions, of which 37 percent were backed by multi-year commitments, down from 40 percent in 2024.

Australia had a multi-year core agreement in 2025 but did not contribute to core funding.

Regular resources income from multi-year pledges

Government contributions to local office costs

Annual government contributions to local office costs (GLOC) are an important source of revenue and take the form of cash or in-kind contributions from host governments. In low- and middle-income countries, $39 million was received in 2025 (up from $29 million in 2024), consisting of $31 million in cash contributions and $8 million of in-kind contributions for premises and utilities.