The United States obligated roughly $82 billion in foreign assistance in fiscal year 2024, and about $99.9 billion the year before when large Ukraine supplemental packages were flowing. That is the honest answer to how much money the US sends to other countries, and it works out to somewhere between 1 and 1.5 percent of total federal spending. Polling consistently finds Americans believe the share is closer to a quarter of the budget. It is not, and it never has been. What complicates the picture right now is that foreign aid spending fell sharply in 2025 after the Trump administration froze programs and moved to dissolve USAID.
The Actual Dollar Figures
For fiscal year 2023, the Congressional Research Service reported the United States obligated an estimated $99.9 billion in foreign assistance from all sources. That represented about 1.5 percent of the total federal budget and 5.4 percent of discretionary spending, and it included the supplemental funding Congress approved for the Ukraine response.1Congress.gov. U.S. Foreign Assistance In fiscal year 2024, total obligations came down to approximately $82 billion as the Ukraine supplementals tapered.
Then 2025 broke the pattern. According to OECD figures, U.S. official development assistance fell by nearly 57 percent in a single year, from about $63 billion in 2024 to just under $29 billion in 2025. A drop of that size in one year is historically unprecedented for U.S. foreign aid.
Foreign assistance sits inside what the government calls Function 150, the international affairs budget category. Function 150 covers embassy operations, contributions to international organizations, military assistance to allies, and exchange programs like Fulbright scholarships, alongside the aid programs most people picture when they hear the term.
Where the Money Actually Goes
Foreign assistance splits into three broad categories: development and economic aid, humanitarian relief, and military and security assistance. The mix shifts with global events, but all three appear in the budget every year.
Development and Economic Aid
The largest share of non-military spending goes to long-term development, and global health is a huge piece of that. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), created in 2003, has requested around $4.7 billion annually in recent years.2U.S. Department of State. Update on PEPFARs Programming Budget for 2024-2025 Other health spending targets malaria, tuberculosis, and child mortality. Infrastructure programs fund roads, power systems, and clean water where basic services are lacking.
The Economic Support Fund is more flexible than traditional development programs. It supports countries transitioning to democracy, funds economic stabilization, and addresses what policymakers describe as root causes of instability, often in the Middle East and other regions where economic dislocation could threaten U.S. security interests. The Treasury Department also channels U.S. contributions to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank.3U.S. Department of the Treasury. Multilateral Development Banks
Humanitarian Aid
Humanitarian assistance covers emergency response to famines, natural disasters, refugee crises, and armed conflicts. The money pays for food shipments, temporary shelter, medical supplies, and logistical support for displaced populations. Much of it moves through international organizations and NGOs specializing in rapid crisis response.
Military and Security Assistance
Foreign Military Financing is the main channel for security aid. Authorized under the Arms Export Control Act, the program gives grants to partner nations so they can buy American defense equipment, services, and training. A limited number of countries can also use the funds for direct commercial contracts with U.S. defense companies.4Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Foreign Military Financing Because recipients are generally buying U.S.-made hardware, much of this money cycles back to American defense contractors.
The International Military Education and Training program brings foreign military officers to the United States for professional development. Its stated goals include training future leaders, building relationships with partner forces, improving interoperability, and providing English language instruction.5Defense Security Cooperation Agency. International Military Education and Training Peacekeeping funding supports stabilization in regions recovering from conflict.
Which Countries Get the Most
The top recipients shift year to year, but a handful of countries consistently sit near the top. For fiscal year 2024, the largest recipients were:
- Israel received about $6.8 billion, most of it military aid. A 10-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2016 set baseline funding at $3.3 billion per year in Foreign Military Financing plus $500 million for missile defense cooperation. The FY2024 total exceeded the baseline because of supplemental appropriations.6U.S. Department of State. Ten-Year Memorandum of Understanding Between the United States and Israel
- Ukraine received about $6.5 billion, in both military hardware and direct budget support. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Congress has appropriated a total of $187.7 billion across all Ukraine response funding.7Ukraine Oversight. Funding
- Jordan received about $1.7 billion, tied to its role hosting refugees and its status as a security partner. The aid helps offset the cost of water and social services for millions of displaced people.
- Ethiopia received about $1.3 billion, mostly humanitarian and development aid targeting food insecurity and public health.
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo received about $1.3 billion, primarily humanitarian assistance addressing displacement and conflict.
Egypt, which historically received about $1.3 billion per year in military aid tied to the Camp David peace accords, doesn’t appear in the FY2024 top five under this methodology, though it remains a major recipient of security assistance through equipment transfers and training contracts.8ForeignAssistance.gov. U.S. Foreign Assistance by Country – Egypt Rankings can look very different depending on whether you count military aid, economic aid, or both, and whether wartime supplementals are folded in.
What Changed in 2025
In early 2025, the Trump administration moved to effectively dissolve USAID as a standalone agency, with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) driving rapid staff reductions. A federal judge in Maryland ruled in March 2025 that the dismantling likely violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause and blocked further cuts, but the ruling stopped short of fully reversing what had already happened.
By June 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered all USAID overseas positions abolished by September 30, 2025, with foreign assistance programming transferred directly to the State Department. The directive affected hundreds of staff across more than 100 countries. The State Department now controls both the policy direction and the operational management of most U.S. foreign aid.
The spending cuts followed the same trajectory. Programs across global health, food security, democracy promotion, and refugee assistance were frozen, scaled back, or terminated. The OECD’s 57 percent drop in official development assistance between 2024 and 2025 reflects those decisions. Long-term effects on recipient countries and on the institutional knowledge built up at USAID over decades are still unclear.
Who Cannot Receive U.S. Aid
Not every country is eligible. Federal law imposes hard limits, and these are statutory prohibitions rather than policy preferences.
Section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act blocks most aid to any country the State Department designates as a state sponsor of terrorism. The ban extends to opposing that country’s access to international institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. As of 2026, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria carry the designation. The Arms Export Control Act separately bans weapons sales to designated countries.9U.S. Government Publishing Office. Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
The Leahy Law prohibits U.S. funds from assisting any foreign security force unit when credible information shows the unit committed gross violations of human rights, defined as torture, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, and rape under color of law. Both the State Department and the Department of Defense operate their own versions, codified in Section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act and Section 362 of Title 10, respectively.10U.S. Department of State. Leahy Law Fact Sheet Section 620I adds another restriction: no security assistance to any government that blocks delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid.
Under the Arms Export Control Act, defense articles and services cannot be sold or exported to a country the President determines is not fully cooperating with U.S. antiterrorism efforts, though the President can waive that restriction for specific transactions deemed important to national interests.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 22 USC 2781 – Transactions With Countries Not Fully Cooperating With United States Antiterrorism Efforts
Where to Check Current Numbers
The government publishes foreign aid data through ForeignAssistance.gov, which tracks obligations and disbursements by country, program, and agency.12ForeignAssistance.gov. U.S. Foreign Assistance by Country – Ukraine The Congressional Research Service produces regular analyses of foreign assistance trends through Congress.gov.1Congress.gov. U.S. Foreign Assistance For a clean picture of what the U.S. actually sends abroad, those two are the most reliable places to start. Both tend to lag by a year or more, so the freshest figures for any given fiscal year usually aren’t available until well after it ends.