• India has paid $37.64 million dollars to the United Nations Regular Budget for 2025.

• According to the UN Committee on Contributions, 37 member states have paid their regular budget assessments in full within the 30-day due period specified in UN financial regulations as of February 3.

• India has consistently been among the countries to pay its contributions to the UN budget on time and in full.

Where does the UN get its money from?

• The UN gets its money basically from all the countries. There are 193 Member States. 

• The UN regular budget funds the core administrative costs of the organisation, including the UN General Assembly, Security Council, Secretariat, International Court of Justice, special political missions, and human rights entities. 

• The regular budget is adopted by the Assembly and covers one calendar year (January 1 to December 31). 

• In addition, the UN maintains a distinct budget for peacekeeping operations, with the fiscal cycle July 1 to June 30.

• Most Assembly decisions related to the budget are adopted by consensus. 

• When budget votes occur (which is rare) decisions are made by a two-thirds majority of members present and voting, with each country having one vote. 

• The General Assembly determines a regular budget scale of assessments every three years based on a country’s capacity to pay. 

• The amount paid by Member States is based on a complex formula that includes the size of each country’s economy. Other elements include the country’s external debt, income per capita, and level of development. 

• The amounts range from a high of 22 per cent of the budget to 0.001 per cent, paid by the least developed countries.

• The United States is currently assessed 22 per cent, the highest of any UN member, followed by China (15.25 per cent) and Japan (8.03 per cent).

• For the fiscal year 2024, India’s assessed contribution of $32,895,257 was fully paid.

What happens if a country doesn’t pay its UN dues?

If the amount that a country owes is equal to what they were assessed to pay for the previous two years, they lose their vote in the UN General Assembly. They don’t get that vote back unless the General Assembly makes a special decision, or they pay enough to get below the two-year threshold, so they try to avoid owing that much.

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