ECHO (European Commission) - Budget

Budget

In 2010, ECHO's aid budget amounted to €1 115 million. As for humanitarian aid, ECHO provided humanitarian assistance to about 151 million people in 80 non-EU countries, of which 39 were designated as being in situation of crisis. As for civil protection, the civil protection mechanism was activated 28 times in 2010 for crises inside and outside the EU.

The largest share of funding is for food and nutrition (39%). Health and medical sector (including psychosocial support) (13,4%), Water and Sanitation (12,8%), Shelter (9,6%) and Protection (6,3%) are the other main areas of activities. ECHO allocated 9,4% of the 2010 budget to Disaster preparedness. In 2010, Civil Protection represented 3% of the budget.

In 2010, 42% of the budget went to Africa and 39% to Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Pacific.

Out of the total assistance provided in 2010, an estimated 44% was for natural disasters, 41% for long-term crises and 15% for ad hoc crises and interventions.

Some charities have claimed European governments have inflated the amount they have spent on aid by incorrectly including money spent on debt relief, foreign students and refugees. Under the de-inflated figures, the Union did not reach its internal aid target in 2006.

Again in 2010, the European Union did not reach its internal aid target: figures reveal that member states failed to hit the 0.56% collective target of gross national income for aid last year, a figure set in 2005. The target for 2015 is 0.7%. In 2010, Netherlands (0.81%), Denmark (0.9%), Sweden (0.97%), Luxembourg (1.09%) and Norway (1.1%) were the only countries in the world that have met the ODA target of 0.7 of GNI.

However, development aid reached an historic high in 2010. Together with the aid given by member states individually, the Union is the largest aid donor in the world.