UN Faces Financial Collapse

The United Nations is at risk of “imminent financial collapse” due to member states not paying their fees, the body’s head has warned.

António Guterres said the UN faced a financial crisis which was “deepening, threatening programme delivery”, and that money could run out by July.

He wrote in a letter to all 193 member states that they had to honour their mandatory payments or overhaul the organisation’s financial rules to avoid collapse.

It comes after the UN’s largest contributor, the US, refused to contribute to its regular and peacekeeping budgets, and withdrew from several agencies it called a “waste of taxpayer dollars”. Several other members are in arrears or are simply refusing to pay.

The US is the UN’s largest contributor, but President Donald Trump has said it was not fulfilling its “great potential” and has criticised it for failing to support US-led peace efforts.

The US did not pay its contribution to the UN’s regular budget in 2025 and offered only 30% of its expected funding to UN peacekeeping operations.

Then in January, Trump withdrew it from dozens of international organisations, including 31 UN agencies, to “end American taxpayer funding and involvement in entities that advance globalist agendas over US priorities”.

In late December, the US pledged $2bn (£1.5bn) in funding for UN humanitarian programmes – warning the international organisation must “adapt or die” – a fraction of the $17bn it spent in 2022.

Other countries, such as the UK and Germany, have also announced significant reductions in foreign aid, which will inevitably impact the UN’s work.