Total aid from Norway in 2025 amounted to NOK 58.9 billion. It increased by 5.8 per cent. With a population of 5.6 million, this means that the aid distributed by Norway around the world surpassed a historic NOK 10,000 per inhabitant. Thus, a family of four with young children can know that they directly or indirectly contributed more than NOK 40,000 in aid last year. One krone in five went to Ukraine, while almost half of the money ended up in categories that Norad needs a little time to explain.
In 2025, Norway set a new aid record. A total of NOK 58.9 billion was spent on people other than Norway’s own inhabitants. With one significant exception: everyone whose income comes from the aid industry. This includes not only employees of Norad and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also the thousands of people employed in 1,557 projects run by 846 organisations across a total of 98 countries.
Those financing the feast are the Norwegian state, that is, the Norwegian taxpayer. Or the Government Pension Fund Global (Oljefondet), from which money could alternatively have been used to reduce the tax burden on Norwegian taxpayers, as was originally intended, without affecting welfare benefits in the country.
More than NOK 10,000 per inhabitant
The amount of aid is large, and it is growing. It totalled NOK 58.9 billion, or more precisely NOK 58,904,313,728. It increased by 5.8 per cent from 2024. At the end of 2025, Norway’s population stood at 5,627,400, representing an increase of 33,060 people, exclusively through immigration.
But even though the denominator in the fraction increased, aid per inhabitant nevertheless thundered past NOK 10,000 per head.
More precisely, NOK 10,467 per inhabitant. This means that a family of four with young children, directly or indirectly, paid NOK 42,870 in aid.
In total, Norway has provided aid amounting to NOK 941 billion. This corresponds to more than NOK 167,000 per living inhabitant. Fully 85 per cent of this has been provided during the present century.
This qualifies Norway’s inhabitants for the designation of the world’s most generous people, something that Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide may modestly adorn himself with if he is travelling abroad and promoting Norway’s interests.
What was the money used for?
When so much money is given away on this scale and at this pace, it is natural to ask what the money is being used for.
Under the link Aid in Figures on Norad’s website, an overview is provided of how the aid funds have been distributed.
The aid is distributed in three alternative ways: by “Geography”, “Sector”, or “Partner”.
Under Geography, the funds are distributed by country. The country that received the most aid last year was Ukraine. One aid krone in five went there, a total of NOK 11.7 billion.
More than half to “Global Unspecified”
Yet Ukraine is not the largest item when the aid budget is sorted geographically, or more precisely under Norad’s distribution option “Geography”.
The item that consumes the most from generous Norwegian families with young children and pensioners, and which could alternatively have been used for better elderly care in Norway, is called “Global Unspecified” by Norad.
This accounted for fully 52 per cent of the aid budget and consists of three sub-items:
- Administration: 4.9 per cent
- Global Unspecified (again): 26.7 per cent
- “Multilateral Core Support”: 19.9 per cent
The administrative costs of the aid budget amounted to NOK 2.9 billion, while “Global Unspecified” (second item) reached a total of NOK 15.7 billion and “Multilateral Core Support” NOK 11.7 billion.
An alternative analogy to that described above is that each Norwegian family of four gave more than NOK 19,500 to “Global Unspecified” and “Multilateral Core Support” before the family gave the next NOK 8,300 to Ukraine, out of a total of NOK 42,870 that could alternatively have been used to pay down debt.
Document.no contacted Norad to find out what these items contain. As it was not possible to obtain a satisfactory explanation, we were requested to submit our questions by e-mail, which we have done, informing them that we will write a follow-up article when we receive a reply. In the e-mail, we ask, among other things, what “Global Unspecified” and “Multilateral Core Support” are under the sorting category Geography.
846 recipient organisations in 98 countries
“Partners” is another sorting category. Here, the aid money is sorted according to which organisations (“partners”) receive the funds. Towering above the rest are the “Multilateral Organisations”, which consume more than half of the budget.
At the top stands the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with a Norwegian contribution of NOK 3.1 billion, followed by the United Nations Development Programme with NOK 2.7 billion and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with NOK 2.1 billion, and so on. More than 100 different organisations are associated with the United Nations, the World Bank, the EU, NATO, WHO, etc.
Increased by 15 per cent
The second-largest “Partner” category receiving aid money from Norway is called “Public Sector in Norway/Other Donor Countries” by Norad. A total of NOK 13.2 billion went this way. And it increased by 15 per cent.
Here we find everything from Norfund at the top, to Norad itself!!!, to the ministries, the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Norec, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), a range of directorates, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, the Norwegian Film Institute, NUPI and Melhus Municipality. The list is long and contains nearly 60 recipients.
A preliminary answer is that these entities engage in institution-building in the recipient countries. But here too we have sent questions to Norad about what they do, for example. We also ask why this item increased substantially more than the budget as a whole.
Brazil, Indonesia and Palestine
“Public Sector in Recipient Countries” received a total of NOK 1.8 billion in aid funds.
At the top stands the Brazilian Development Bank, which played a central role in the country’s largest corruption scandal of all time. It received NOK 617 million last year. The money is intended for the Amazon Fund, which is administered by the aforementioned bank.
Next come the authorities in Indonesia, with NOK 342 million.
For information, both Brazil and Indonesia are larger oil producers than Norway and have a combined population of more than half a billion people. Together, they are therefore almost one hundred times more numerous than Norway’s population.
The third-largest recipient is the Palestinian Authority, with NOK 340 million.
In total, more than 40 governments and government-controlled entities receive direct financial transfers from Norway.
Document.no has asked Norad how achievement of results in this regard is measured and has requested that an example of an “Executive Summary” describing such achievement of results be provided.
“Unspecified” increases the most
Even under the distribution category Partner, there is no overview of where all the money went. Norad has an item called “Unspecified”. It is small compared with the total budget, but thundered through the NOK 100 million mark in 2025.
The item “Unspecified” increased by 16 per cent to more than NOK 107 million. Document.no has also asked what exactly this is.
Climate more important than emergency aid
Norwegian aid is closely linked to the struggle against anthropogenic global warming. Many Members of the Storting regard this as a decisive struggle and a question of our very existence. Therefore, “climate” is a recurring theme everywhere tax money is appropriated and distributed, whether at municipal, county or state level.
The aid budget is no exception.
When the aid funds are distributed according to the category Sector, the subcategory “Environment and Energy” comes out on top with NOK 14.6 billion. Ahead of “Multilateral Core Support” at NOK 11.7 billion (the same as when distributed according to “Geography”). Only in third place comes Emergency Aid, at a mere NOK 7.9 billion.
When we open the “Environment and Energy” category, there is a little environment, little energy, but a great deal of climate.
This probably means that the politicians in the Storting consider the fight against anthropogenic global warming more important than saving people in distress.