Friday, February 17, 2012

How many UN Member States actually pay their budgets on time and in full?

Western states often paint a picture of the UN as a “bloated” bureaucracy with a huge, extravagant budget. The US is constantly calling for UN reform and politicians argue that the UN budget is too large and a drain on their countries’ resources, even though in 2010, the UN Regular Budget was less than the budget of Tokyo's Fire Department.


The chart above shows the number of countries that have fully paid their regular budget assessments to the UN by January 31st, the end of the 30 day due period allowed under UN Financial Regulations. It also shows the total payment’s percentage of the regular budget from 1991-2012. In 2012, only 26 member states fully paid their regular budget assessments by the payment deadline, January 31st. Altogether, the 26 states paid only 13.38 percent of the total. Among them are four or the five Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway. Of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia is the only state to have fully paid its regular budget assessments on time.


The table below ranks the 26 prompt-paying countries in terms of their share of contributions to the UN Regular Budget. The countries highlighted in red are the “Top 10” prompt-paying UN member states for 2012.



Countries Paying Promptly and in Full, 1991 – 2012

Country

Net Assessment

(in $US)

Share of Contribution to UN Regular Budget (in %)

Canada

75,786,708

3.207

Australia

45,679,983

1.933

Netherlands

43,836,714

1.855

Russia

37,857,906

1.602

Norway

20,583,169

0.871

Austria

20,110,536

0.851

Denmark

17,392,896

0.736

Finland

13,375,515

0.566

Ireland

11,768,562

0.498

Singapore

7,916,603

0.355

New Zealand

6,451,441

0.273

Kuwait

6,215,125

0.263

Luxembourg

2,126,849

0.090

Ukraine

2,055,954

0.087

Cyprus

1,087,056

0.046

Iceland

992,530

0.042

Bulgaria

898,003

0.038

Latvia

898,003

0.038

Tanzania

189,054

0.008

Georgia

141,790

0.006

Armenia

118,159

0.005

Burkina Faso

70,895

0.003

Monaco

70,895

0.003

Niger

47,264

0.002

Malawi

23,631

0.001

Guyana

23,631

0.001


To see a detailed list of countries who have paid on time and in full, and to see their total payment’s percentage of the regular budget, click here.


Source: United Nations Committee on Contributions

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