Originally published: June 2023 Updated: June 2024
Against a backdrop of rising global malnutrition and significant reductions in the UK’s overall aid budget, this report presents a detailed analysis of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)’s bilateral aid spending for nutrition in 2021. Building on annual assessments produced since 2014 and using the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Donor Network’s agreed methodology, the report analyses the latest available data up to 2021 alongside historical trends.
The analysis finds that FCDO’s nutrition spending fell sharply in 2021, decreasing by 61.3% from 2020 to US$441.6 million. Both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive funding declined to their lowest levels in a decade, with nutrition spending falling to 7.0% of total bilateral ODA. Despite these reductions, nutrition-sensitive spending remained largely focused on humanitarian response, accounting for 68% of disbursements.
The report also highlights the integration of cross-cutting priorities, with 78% of nutrition spending marked as contributing to gender equality and a small share linked to International Climate Finance. Overall, the report provides an evidence base to support accountability and policy dialogue on donor financing for nutrition amid fiscal constraints and growing humanitarian needs.
