Fox News breaks down the WHO's financials
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The organization itself runs on a two-year budget cycle. For 2020 and 2021, its budget for carrying out its missions is $4.8 billion — about one quarter of the cash the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gets, said Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, which is an independent agency that works with the WHO.
Funding for the WHO is split into two uneven categories.
The first are assessments or dues each member state is required to pay, and is based on population and income. The second category is labeled "voluntary" and includes extra money governments float to the organization as well as private donations. These assessed contributions make up about 20 percent of the WHO's total budget while the voluntary funds make up the rest.
The United States is the largest single government donor to the WHO and accounts for about 20 percent of the WHO's total budget. The U.S. also gives the most money in voluntary contributions.
Assessed – or mandatory – fees for the U.S. work out to be about $237 million or about 22 percent of the total assessed fees. China, by comparison, pays only 12 percent of the WHO's assessed budget, followed by Japan at 8.6 percent and Germany at 6.1 percent.
Assessed contributions have declined as an overall percentage but remain as a key source of funding for the WHO.
The set funds provide predictability and help to minimize dependence on a narrow donor base. The assessed fees are due January 1 from 194 member states and two associate members. If the total annual fees for a member state is greater than $200,000, that member's contributions are assessed half in U.S. dollars and the rest in Swiss francs. Members whose annual fees come out to less than $200,000 must pay in U.S. dollars.
When it comes to voluntary contributions, the United States also ranks supreme, though Trump has sought to cut U.S. contributions to the WHO, pre-COVID-19.
In its proposed 2021 budget, the administration pushed to have its voluntary contributions slashed in half, to $58 million. Most of the money from the United States goes toward fighting polio (27.4 percent), as well as developing vaccines (7.7 percent) and increasing access to essential health and nutrition services (17.4 percent) around the world.
Less than 3 percent of U.S. funds goes toward emergency operations, while just 2.3 percent is earmarked for outbreak prevention and control.
Several of the next largest national contributors are European: the U.K. provides 7.79 percent of the WHO budget and Germany 5.68 percent, while the European Commission provides 3.3 percent. Japan covers 2.76 percent, according to the organization's 2018-19 budget.
However, in terms of brass tacks, the second largest voluntary contributor to the WHO is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which pays about $531 million.
The third is the GAVI vaccine alliance, a public-private global health partnership focused on increasing immunizations to poor countries. (The Gates Foundation donated $1.56 billion to GAVI between 2016-2020.) GAVI gives more than $370 million to the WHO, with about 72.36 percent of its funding going toward vaccines and preventable disease.
The United Kingdom comes in third, with about 33.5 percent of its funds going to eradicate polio in Africa. Germany rounds out the top five. About 13.5 percent of its funds goes toward access to essential health and nutrition.
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The organization itself runs on a two-year budget cycle. For 2020 and 2021, its budget for carrying out its missions is $4.8 billion — about one quarter of the cash the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gets, said Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, which is an independent agency that works with the WHO.
Funding for the WHO is split into two uneven categories.
The first are assessments or dues each member state is required to pay, and is based on population and income. The second category is labeled "voluntary" and includes extra money governments float to the organization as well as private donations. These assessed contributions make up about 20 percent of the WHO's total budget while the voluntary funds make up the rest.
The United States is the largest single government donor to the WHO and accounts for about 20 percent of the WHO's total budget. The U.S. also gives the most money in voluntary contributions.
Assessed – or mandatory – fees for the U.S. work out to be about $237 million or about 22 percent of the total assessed fees. China, by comparison, pays only 12 percent of the WHO's assessed budget, followed by Japan at 8.6 percent and Germany at 6.1 percent.
Assessed contributions have declined as an overall percentage but remain as a key source of funding for the WHO.
The set funds provide predictability and help to minimize dependence on a narrow donor base. The assessed fees are due January 1 from 194 member states and two associate members. If the total annual fees for a member state is greater than $200,000, that member's contributions are assessed half in U.S. dollars and the rest in Swiss francs. Members whose annual fees come out to less than $200,000 must pay in U.S. dollars.
When it comes to voluntary contributions, the United States also ranks supreme, though Trump has sought to cut U.S. contributions to the WHO, pre-COVID-19.
In its proposed 2021 budget, the administration pushed to have its voluntary contributions slashed in half, to $58 million. Most of the money from the United States goes toward fighting polio (27.4 percent), as well as developing vaccines (7.7 percent) and increasing access to essential health and nutrition services (17.4 percent) around the world.
Less than 3 percent of U.S. funds goes toward emergency operations, while just 2.3 percent is earmarked for outbreak prevention and control.
Several of the next largest national contributors are European: the U.K. provides 7.79 percent of the WHO budget and Germany 5.68 percent, while the European Commission provides 3.3 percent. Japan covers 2.76 percent, according to the organization's 2018-19 budget.
However, in terms of brass tacks, the second largest voluntary contributor to the WHO is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which pays about $531 million.
The third is the GAVI vaccine alliance, a public-private global health partnership focused on increasing immunizations to poor countries. (The Gates Foundation donated $1.56 billion to GAVI between 2016-2020.) GAVI gives more than $370 million to the WHO, with about 72.36 percent of its funding going toward vaccines and preventable disease.
The United Kingdom comes in third, with about 33.5 percent of its funds going to eradicate polio in Africa. Germany rounds out the top five. About 13.5 percent of its funds goes toward access to essential health and nutrition.
