U.S. Funding for the UN

Since its inception in 1945, the U.S. has been the UN’s largest financial contributor. As a permanent member of the Security Council and host of UN headquarters in New York City, the U.S. holds significant clout at the UN, and its leadership in providing financial support to the organization is a reflection of that influential role.

From peacekeeping missions that promote stability in various parts of the world to its work on nonproliferation, counterterrorism and human rights, the UN is a force multiplier for the U.S., addressing global challenges that the U.S. simply couldn’t confront alone.

Funding from Member States for the UN system comes from two main sources: assessed and voluntary contributions.

Assessed Dues

Assessed contributions are payments that all Member States are required to make under the UN Charter. Assessments provide a reliable source of funding to core functions of the Secretariat through the UN regular and peacekeeping budgets. UN specialized agencies have their own assessed budgets.

Voluntary Contributions

Voluntary contributions are made at the discretion of Member States and vital to the work of the UN’s humanitarian and development agencies that do not have assessed budgets, like UNICEF, UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP).

Download the 2025 UN, Explained Brief on the UN Budget

American businesses receive more in contracts with UN agencies than the U.S. pays in regular and peacekeeping dues.

Why should the U.S. pay its UN dues?

Strong and consistent U.S. engagement with the UN is critical to advancing our nation’s foreign policy, national security, economic and humanitarian priorities. Here are a few reasons why it matters to pay UN dues on time and in full.

The UN is a bargain for U.S. taxpayers.

While the UN’s work covers a broad array of issues and impacts U.S. interests in every corner of the globe, the total amount of U.S. contributions to the UN is a very small portion of our nation’s annual budget. Overall, less than 1% of the federal budget is devoted to foreign aid, including contributions to the UN. Our peacekeeping and regular budget dues account for just 0.06% of the annual U.S. federal budget.
Peacekeeping missions advance U.S. national security.

While the U.S. is the largest single contributor to the UN’s regular and peacekeeping budgets, other UN member states pay the vast majority of costs associated with the activities funded by these assessments. Moreover, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the U.S. has final say over the size of the peacekeeping budget, since operations must be authorized, expanded or withdrawn with U.S. consent.

Peacekeeping missions are also extremely cost-effective, accounting for just 0.5% of all annual global military expenditures and 1% of America’s U.S. defense budget. And according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, peacekeeping missions are eight times cheaper than deploying U.S. forces.
Funding cuts to the UN compromise American leadership.

When the U.S. fails to pay its peacekeeping and regular budget dues, it jeopardizes UN programs that are in our national interests, as well as negatively impacts our ability to advance the U.S. agenda at the UN. In order to continue reaping the benefits of engagement with the UN and influence the organization’s overall direction, it is critical that we make payments on time and in full.

Reassessments

Member State assessment rates are determined by the General Assembly, with renegotiations every three years. During the latest assessments in December 2024, the U.S. maintained a ceiling of 22% on regular budget dues (the only developed country in the world with such a cap on payments to the UN regular budget). The U.S. now pays 26.15% of UN peacekeeping costs, lower than the previous 27%. With the current 2024-2025 peacekeeping budget of $5.59 billion, the lower contribution rate would result in annual cost savings of roughly $44.5 million for American taxpayers. This stands in contrast to China’s peacekeeping rate of 23.78% (up from 15% in 2019-2021), costing them an additional $306 million annually.