Which Asian country contributes the most to United Nations?
Asian countries contribute almost 25% of UN budget, with Japan being the highest contributor from the region, followed by China, Australia, South Korea and India.
The UN comprises of 193 members that have to contribute to the regular annual budget as determined by the organisation. The organisation is dependent on the contributions from its member states in the form of voluntary and assessed contributions. While voluntary contributions are left to the members’ discretion the assessed contributions depend on each country’s paying capacity.
The USA contributes the most to the UN annual budget with 22%, accounting to the latest available UN data.
From Asia, Japan is the highest contributor to the UN budget. The total UN budget for the year 2016-17 was $ 5.6 billion. China is another major contributor and it has paid 7.92 per cent of the UN budget making it the third highest contributor in the world and second in Asia. China’s assessed contribution in next three years will increase to 10.2 per cent making it surpass Japan for the first time.
Australia contributes 2.3% and is the third largest contributor to the UN budget from Asia. South Korea is the fourth highest contributor from the region with 2.03 per cent of the total budget.
India contributes 0.737 per cent to the UN regular budget making it the highest contributor amongst South Asian countries and fifth in Asia.
Indonesia follows India by contributing 0.504 per cent of the total annual budget of the UN making it the sixth highest contributor in Asia. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines are other major contributors.
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan together contribute less than 1 per cent to the UN budget with Bhutan being the least contributor in Asia. Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Loas together contribute 0.075 per cent to the annual UN budget.
The United Nations provides heavy discount to the poorer countries and the resultant deficit to the budget is compensated by the five permanent members. While the countries with robust economies contribute monetarily, the lower economy countries contribute in terms of personnel deployment to the peace keeping missions.