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In light of the UN’s liquidity crisis since 2024, ISHR compares when UN Member States are paying their assessed contributions to the UN’s regular budget over the period 2019-2025.
This analysis is regularly updated and serves as complementary information to ISHR’s report ‘Budget Battles at the UN: How States try to Defund Human Rights’ launched on 21 October 2025.
Funding the UN’s regular budget
The UN’s regular budget covers the budget of the six UN principal organs, including the UN Secretariat, including all its offices (such as OHCHR), departments, regional commissions, programmes and funds. The UN negotiates a separate budget for peacekeeping operations. Other UN entities not directly related to the UN Secretariat, such as specialised agencies like UNESCO or the International Labour Organisation, have separate budgets.
The UN’s regular budget is approved annually and funded by Member States’ assessed contributions: that is, the amount of money shared among Member States to finance the budget approved by the General Assembly. The amount each State is required to pay is determined by the scale of assessments, which is determined every three years based on a formula that represents a country’s capacity to pay using factors like gross national income (GNI) adjusted for debt and population.
There is a minimum assessment rate of 0.001% of the budget for the least developed nations and a maximum ceiling of 22% for the largest contributor(s). The US is the only country currently affected by this ceiling, meaning that based on the formula, its assessment would likely be higher than 22%. The ceiling was established to prevent over-reliance on a single Member State for funding and has been subject to negotiations over time. The scale of assessments for 2025-2027 can be found here, while the value of assessed contributions for each Member State for 2025 can be found here.
Letters of assessment for the regular budget are sent by the Secretary-General to Member States in January of each year. Member States should then pay their contributions within 30 days of receipt of the Secretary-General’s letter, yet in practice, only a minority do so.
Member States that accumulate arrears equal to or more than their assessed contributions for the preceding two full years risk the suspension of their voting rights at the General Assembly under Article 19 of the UN Charter. Currently, four countries fall under the provisions of Article 19: Afghanistan, Bolivia, São Tomé and Principe, and Venezuela (who owes the equivalent of nearly 16 years in assessed contributions). Under Article 19, the General Assembly may, nevertheless, permit a State to vote ‘if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the Member State’: São Tomé and Principe currently falls under this category.
Unpaid contributions in 2025
As of 3 October 2025, only 139 Member States (72%) have paid their dues in full. Members that have NOT paid their dues in full include:
As of 9 October, the States owing the largest amount of unpaid regular budget assessments are:
Patterns of payment of contributions by Member States
ISHR analysed the dates when Member States contributions were received in full over the period 2019-2025. Data is taken from the UN’s website, which indicates the date at which the full amount of assessed contributions were received: the data does not reflect if and when part of these contributions were received earlier in the year. States who always or regularly do not pay do not necessarily fall under Article 19 provisions (which provide for the suspension of a State’s voting rights in the General Assembly), as most eventually pay all or most contributions the year after.
Always on time within 30-day period (20): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine.
Mostly on time within 30-day period (at least 4 out of 7 years) (21): Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Cuba, Georgia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lithuania, Malta, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden.
Mostly late by end of June, to on time (late at least 4 out of 7 years, otherwise leaning towards on time) (45): Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Bhutan, Botswana, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Guyana, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Laos, Maldives, Mauritius, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Türkiye, Tuvalu, UAE, UK, Viet Nam.
Often late by end of June, to very late by end of September (late at least 3 out of 7 years, otherwise leaning towards very late) (21): Bahamas, Bangladesh, Burundi, China, Colombia, Fiji, Guatemala, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, Tonga, Tunisia, Uzbekistan.
Often very late by end of September (at least 3 out of 7 years, leaning towards unpaid) (22): Belarus, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Eritrea, Eswatini, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Mozambique, North Korea, Oman, Paraguay, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Zambia.
Often unpaid by end of year (at least 3 out of 7 years) (52): Angola, Belize, Benin, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mexico, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe.
Always unpaid by the end of the year (9): Afghanistan, Argentina, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, São Tomé and Principe, South Sudan, Suriname, Syria, US.
Mixed (contrasting patterns, from payments within the 30-day period to unpaid payments by the end of the year) (4): Antigua and Barbuda, Djibouti, Senegal.
Progress and regress since 2019
Over the period of analysis, Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Fiji, Namibia, San Marino, Serbia, and Tuvalu have strongly progressed, while Cyprus, Laos, Micronesia, Morocco, Rwanda, and Samoa have demonstrated some progress.
Over that same period, Brunei Darussalam, China, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Japan, Palau and Türkiye have strongly regressed, while Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Montenegro, and Spain have regressed to a lesser extent.
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