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T
he United States is today and has always been the largest financial contributor to
the United Nations system. The U.S. contributed over $3.0 billion to the United
Nations programs and budget in 2002 and will do so again in 2003. This includes as-
sessed and voluntary contributions to the UN regular budget, the regular budgets of
the specialized agencies, peacekeeping efforts, and a wide variety of special programs
and emergency relief operations.
Member states contribute to the United Nations in two basic ways: through assessed
contributions to the UN regular budget and to the regular budgets of the United Na-
tions specialized agencies, and through voluntary contributions, both cash and in-
kind, to special United Nations programs.
Contributions to the Regular
United Nations Budget
The contributions of member states to
the regular United Nations budget are
set under the United Nations scales of
assessments. The scale is based broadly
on “capacity to pay” as measured by
member states’ shares of the combined world national income and other factors. It
includes discounts for countries with low per capita income. For the period 2001
through 2003, the United States has been assessed 22 percent of the regular UN bud-
get (which totals $2.891 billion for 2002-2003). This covers the overall Secretariat and
Headquarters costs as well as programs established by the UN General Assembly. For
many years, the United States has been advocating comprehensive reforms to bring
the scale of assessment up to date and create a broader and more equitable distribu-
tion of the responsibility for UN financing. Any change to the scale of assessments
needs to be approved by the United Nations General Assembly.
Contributions to Peacekeeping Operations
In 2003 the United Nations was funding 14 peacekeeping operations around the
world with over 3800 military and civilian police in the field. With major peacekeep-
ing operations around the world, from Kosovo and Timor Leste to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and Liberia, the United States expects that the UN peacekeep-
ing budget will be near $3 billion in 2004. Member states are assessed separately for
each peacekeeping operation.
For Calendar Year 2003, peacekeeping is funded by an ad hoc system of apportion-
ment that is based on the regular budget rates, but provides substantial discounts to
most countries. The assessment rates of the Permanent Members of the UN Security
Council are increased to accommodate these discounts. Today 95 percent of costs are
assessed to just 33 UN member states. The top five contributors pay more than 70
percent of expenses.
The United States is today and has always
been the largest financial contributor to
the United Nations system.
United States Contributions to the United Nations
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The Geneva Brief ing Book
The U.S. is currently assessed at 27 percent of the total, and as of October 2003 the
U.S. was paid in full. In 2003, the U.S. contributed over two-thirds of a billion dollars
for United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world.
Budgets of Other Agencies
The United States is assessed at the same rate as the regular UN budget for the bud-
gets of many UN specialized agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organiza-
tion (ILO).
U.S. contribution rates are lower in percentage terms for the International Telecom-
munication Union (ITU) and Universal Postal Union (UPU), since contributions to
those agencies are based on a system known as “contributory units.” Each country
chooses the number of units of the budget that it wants to contribute. The U.S. usu-
ally chooses to pay at the highest allowable category of contributory units, or chooses
to match the highest category chosen by any other country.
Percentage contributions by governments to the budget of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO) are smaller than for other international organiza-
tions, as more than half of WIPO’s funding is generated by user fees paid by the
private sector.
The U.S. is also the largest contributor to the World Trade Organization, whose scale
of assessment is based on national shares of average world trade.
In addition to assessed contributions to the regular budgets of the Geneva-based
agencies, the U.S. also makes substantial voluntary contributions to international or-
ganizations. This is especially the case for humanitarian agencies such as the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), International Com-
mittee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and International Organization for Migration (IOM).