US funding cuts leave UN facing record financial crisis

The United Nations is facing the risk of “imminent financial collapse” due to unpaid contributions from member states, Secretary-General António Guterres has warned. In a letter to all 193 member states, Guterres urged governments to honor their mandatory payments or fundamentally overhaul the organisation’s financial rules to avoid bankruptcy.

Guterres described the current crisis as “categorically different” from previous financial challenges, noting that some countries have formally decided not to pay assessed contributions that fund a significant portion of the UN’s regular budget, BBC reports.

“The integrity of the entire system depends on states adhering to their obligation under the UN charter to pay their assessed contributions,” he wrote. While 77% of the total owed was paid in 2025, a record amount remains outstanding.

A structural rule requiring the UN to return unspent funds to member states has compounded the crisis, creating a “double blow” in which the organisation is “expected to give back cash that does not exist.” Guterres highlighted the urgency: “I cannot overstate the urgency of the situation we now face. We cannot execute budgets with uncollected funds, nor return funds we never received. Just this month, as part of the 2026 assessment, we were compelled to return $227 million [£165 million] — funds we have not collected.”

He warned, “The bottom line is clear. Either all member states honor their obligations to pay in full and on time — or member states must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse.”

Signs warning of the financial situation have been posted throughout UN headquarters in Geneva. In a bid to conserve cash, escalators are frequently turned off and heating reduced.

The UN has long faced chronic funding shortfalls, often leading to hiring freezes and mission reductions. However, the past year has been particularly severe. The United States, the UN’s largest contributor, did not pay its regular budget contribution in 2025 and provided only 30% of its expected funding for peacekeeping operations. In January, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from dozens of international organisations, including 31 UN agencies, citing concerns over “entities that advance globalist agendas over US priorities.”

While the US pledged $2 billion (£1.5 billion) for UN humanitarian programs in late December, this represents a fraction of the $17 billion it contributed in 2022. Other countries, including the UK and Germany, have also announced significant cuts to foreign aid, further straining UN operations.

The financial crisis has already forced severe operational cuts. UN Women has closed mother and baby clinics in Afghanistan, which has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates. The World Food Program has reduced rations for refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan. Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office has warned that serious violations may go undocumented due to a lack of funding to deploy investigators — a function that in the past has led to prosecutions for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Guterres has repeatedly warned of the UN’s fragile financial state, describing 2025 and 2026 as “a race to bankruptcy.” Critics have accused Trump of attempting to replace some UN functions with his Board of Peace, designed to oversee reconstruction efforts in Gaza, though he said the board’s work would proceed “in conjunction with the United Nations.” The US also formally left the UN’s World Health Organization last week, having refused to pay its 2024 and 2025 dues despite being legally obligated to do so, according to WHO lawyers.

By Vafa Guliyeva