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 31^st, 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 31^st. 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