Biggest-ever aid cut by G7 members a death sentence for millions of people, says Oxfam

• Aid cuts could cost millions of lives and leave girls, boys, women and men without access to enough food, water, education, health treatment
• G7 countries are making deliberate and deadly choices by cutting life-saving aid, enabling atrocities, and reneging on their international commitments
• Low and middle-income countries face reduced aid, rising debt, and trade barriers — a perfect storm that threatens development and recovery.

OTTAWA, ON, June 10, 2025 /CNW/ - The Group of Seven (G7) countries, which together account for around three-quarters of all official development assistance, are set to slash their aid spending by 28 percent for 2026 compared to 2024 levels.

It would be the biggest cut in aid since the G7 was established in 1975, and indeed in aid records going back to 1960, reveals a new analysis by Oxfam ahead of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada.

"The G7's retreat from the world is unprecedented and couldn't come at a worse time, with hunger, poverty, and climate harm intensifying. The G7 cannot claim to build bridges on one hand while tearing them down with the other. It sends a shameful message to the Global South, that G7 ideals of collaboration mean nothing," said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

2026 will mark the third consecutive year of decline in G7 aid spending – a trend not seen since the 1990s. If these cuts go ahead, G7 aid levels in 2026 will crash by $44 billion to just $112 billion. The cuts are being driven primarily by the US (down $33 billion), Germany (down $3.5 billion), the UK (down $5 billion) and France (down $3 billion).

"Rather than breaking from the Trump administration's cruel dismantling of USAID and other US foreign assistance, G7 countries like the UK, Germany, and France are instead following the same path, slashing aid with brutal measures that will cost millions of lives," said Behar.

"These cuts will starve the hungry, deny medicine to the sick, and block education for a generation of girls and boys. This is a catastrophic betrayal of the world's most vulnerable and crippling to the G7's credibility," said Behar.

Canada allocated $10.17 billion to official development assistance in 2023/2024. Although its foreign aid budgets have been declining for the past two years, Canada is one of the few G7 countries that as not announced its intention to cut ODA. Oxfam Canada is calling on the federal government to clearly affirm its commitment to combating global inequality by maintaining its international aid budget for the coming years. 

"The Canadian government's recently announced intention to increase Canada's military spending to meet the NATO target of 2% of GDP makes the announcement all the more necessary. International aid makes a crucial contribution to global stability by focusing on prevention and providing essential services that strengthen social cohesion," said Lauren Ravon, Executive Director of Oxfam Canada.

Economic projections show that aid cuts will mean 5.7 million more people across Africa will fall below extreme poverty levels in the coming year, a number expected to rocket to 19 million by 2030.

Cuts to aid are putting vital public services at risk in some of the world's poorest countries. In countries like Liberia, Haiti, Malawi, and South Sudan, US aid had made up over 40 percent of health and education budgets, leaving them especially exposed. Combined with a growing debt crisis, this is undermining governments' ability to care for their people.

Global aid for nutrition will fall by 44 percent in 2025 compared to 2022:

• The end of just $128 million worth of US-funded child nutrition programs for a million children will result in an extra 163,500 child deaths a year.
• At the same time, 2.3 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition – the most lethal form of undernutrition – are now at risk of losing their life-saving treatments.

One in five dollars of aid to poor countries' health budgets are cut or under threat:

• WHO reports that in almost three-quarters of its country offices are seeing serious disruptions to health services, and in about a quarter of the countries where it operates some health facilities have already been forced to shut down completely.
• US aid cuts could lead to up to 3 million preventable deaths every year, with 95 million people losing access to healthcare. This includes children dying from vaccine-preventable diseases, pregnant women losing access to care, and rising deaths from malaria, TB, and HIV.

G7 countries are not just reneging on commitments to global aid and solidarity, they are fuelling conflicts by allowing grave violations of international law, like in Gaza where people are facing starvation. Whether in Ukraine, the occupied Palestinian territory, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or elsewhere, civilians must always be protected, and aid is often the first line of protection they get. G7 countries are illuminating a double standard that risks more global instability, conflict and atrocities. 

While G7 countries cut aid, their citizen billionaires continue to see their wealth surge. Since the beginning of 2025, the G7 ultra-rich have made $126 billion, almost the same amount as the group's 2025 aid commitment of $132 billion.

At this pace, it would take the world's billionaires less than a month to generate the equivalent of the G7's 2025 aid budget.

By taxing the super-rich, the G7 could easily meet their financial commitments to end poverty and climate breakdown, whilst also having billions in new revenue to fight inequality in their own countries.

"The world is not short of money. The problem is that it is in the hands of the super-rich instead of the public. Rather than fairly taxing billionaires to feed the hungry, we see billionaires joining government to slash aid to the poorest in order to fund tax cuts for themselves," said Behar.

Oxfam is calling on the G7 to urgently reverse aid cuts and restore funding to address today's global challenges. More than 50 years after the United Nations set the target of 0.7 percent for aid spending, most G7 countries remain well below this.

Oxfam is also urging the G7 to support global efforts led by Brazil and Spain to raise taxes on the super-rich, and to back the call from the African Union and The Vatican for a new UN body to help manage countries' debt problems.

NOTES TO EDITORS

According to OECD Data Explorer, the combined annual aid expenditure of the G7 in 2024 was $156.694 billion. Canada spent $7.323 billion, the United States $61.821 billion, Japan $17.583 billion, France $15.047 billion, Germany $31.382 billion, Italy $6.534 billion, and the United Kingdom $17.005 billion.

Donor Tracker estimates that the decline in combined annual aid spending of the G7 countries for the period 2024 to 2026 will be -$44,488 billion.

In 2024, aid from G7 countries declined by 8 percent, and projections for 2025 point to a sharper drop of 19 percent.

Modelling using finds that 5.7 million more Africans would fall below the US$2.15 extreme poverty income level in the next year if Trump's administration succeeds in its aid-reduction ambition. This assumes a 20 percent reduction of aid to Africa, considering that some US aid would be maintained as the US alone accounted for 26 percent of aid to Africa before the cuts.

The dismantling of USAID and major aid reductions announced by Western donors threaten to undo decades of progress on malnutrition. A 44 percent drop in funding from 2022 levels could lead to widespread hardship and death.

Up to 2.3 million children with severe acute malnutrition risk losing life-saving treatment, warns the Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium.

There are 2,968 billionaires in the world, and 1,346 live in G7 countries (45 percent).

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SOURCE Oxfam Canada

CONTACT INFORMATON: Laveza Khan in Canada | [email protected] | [phone]