U.N. Funding Increases, But Falls Short of Global Tasks

Abstract

Governments have tasked the United Nations with a growing number of global mandates, but they have provided it with very few resources to carry out the work. U.N. funding is minuscule in contrast with that of other public bodies. The regular budget of the organization—$2.2 billion in 2011—is less than the total annual spending of the Tokyo Fire Department.¹ The United Nations’ host city, New York, had a 2011 budget of $66 billion, about 30 times bigger than U.N. core outlays.² The small U.N. budget is striking in view of the multiplying global crises that need commonly decided international solutions—including climate change, financial instability, resource limits, transborder disease, and poverty.