The U.S. invests in the United Nations to achieve its foreign policy goals, but the return on investment goes beyond advancing global peace and security — we also see a tangible economic benefit here at home.
For instance, the UN Secretariat has 40,000 staff and a large global presence, with 13 peacekeeping missions and dozens of other field missions around the world. In order to carry out its global operations, the UN purchases an array of goods and services from private vendors, including telecommunications equipment, financial services, construction, food production, medical care, office equipment, and armored vehicles.
According to the United Nations Global Marketplace, American companies were awarded more than $1.93 billion USD in procurement contracts with the UN in 2020 (the most recent year for which data was available), by far the most of any country. This is a 10.9 percent increase from 2019 ($1.74 billion), due in part to WHO’s procurement, which almost doubled its volume from the United States.
Ninety-four Senators and 227 members of the House of Representatives have at least one company headquartered in their district or state that are directly benefiting from doing business with the UN.
Below is a small sampling of some of the American companies that rely on a strong U.S.-UN partnership to employ thousands of hard-working Americans:
