The United Nations Population Fund received contributions from 142 of the 191 United Nations Member States in 2003, the largest number in the Fund’s history and more than double the number of
countries that contributed to it in 1999.

The top six donors were the Netherlands, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden. New donors in 2003 included Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Somalia, Swaziland, Tajikistan, East Timor and Uzbekistan. Regular resources for UNFPA in 2003 were approximately US$294 million. “This number of supporters has surpassed our expectation”, said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.

“This is strong evidence that countries, from every region of the world, have confidence in the fund and that there is strong political will in support of our activities”.

UNFPA leads efforts to promote goals set at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), including universal access to reproductive health services for all couples and individuals by 2015. Overall donor support still falls short of what is required to meet ICPD goals. In 2001, international assistance totaled $2.5 billion, less than half of the agreed upon commitment.
(Source: UNFPA, Press Release, 19 December)