The amount the US spends in foreign aid has plummeted to the lowest level in 20 years, according to a new report from the Washington-based think tank the Pew Research Centre.

And the trend is set to continue with the US giving out less than $US7 billion in foreign in the first half of 2026.

The report says US federal agencies handed out $US47.3 billion in foreign aid in the 2025 financial year, about $US26 billion less than in 2024.

“Adjusted for inflation, that was the lowest amount of foreign aid since fiscal 2004,” the report said.

The US fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.

“And as the Trump administration has dismantled much of the US aid infrastructure, the amount of aid flowing to other countries continues to dwindle,” the report said.

“Between fiscal years 2008 and 2021, the annual level of aid spending (in constant 2025 dollars) varied from $57 billion to $68 billion. For most of that time, foreign assistance represented roughly one per cent of total federal expenditures.

“Foreign assistance spiked in fiscal years 2022 to 2024, driven largely by aid to Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February 2022. Inflation-adjusted assistance peaked at $85.1 billion in fiscal 2023.”

In the 2025 fiscal year foreign assistance was 0.67 per cent of total federal spending, and so far in the 2026 fiscal year it’s just 0.09 per cent of estimated spending.

The types of aid spending listed by the US government includes funds, goods, services and technical assistance but doesn’t reflect most arms sales or transfers of military equipment to foreign countries.

2025 was the fourth straight year in which Ukraine received more US aid than any other country.

Ukraine received about $6.7 billion, about $3.5 billion less than it had received in fiscal 2024, or a 34.1 per cent decrease. More than two-thirds of that aid was economic assistance, while 18.7 per cent was military and security aid.

So far in 2026, Ukraine has received just $214.4 million in U.S. aid, virtually all of it economic or humanitarian.

After Ukraine, the countries that received the most U.S. aid in fiscal 2025 were Israel ($3.3 billion) and Jordan ($1.7 billion).

Aid to Israel that year was 51.4 per cent less than in fiscal 2024, but aid to Jordan was down just 5.2 per cent.

“Nearly all aid to Israel in fiscal 2025 was military and security assistance. Aid to Jordan was spread mostly between economic (46.5 per cent), military and security (26.1 per cent), and education and social services (10.6 per cent),” the report said.

This year, so far, the West Bank and Gaza have received $325.3 million and Ethiopia $286.7 million.

“Historically, the biggest slice of U.S. foreign aid was often for military and security programs – a broad category that covers training for military and police forces, operations against terrorism and drug trafficking and conflict resolution efforts. As recently as fiscal 2024, more than a quarter of all foreign assistance spending went to such endeavours,” the report said.

“But in fiscal 2025, not only was military and security aid cut by nearly $11 billion (from $18.2 billion to $7.3 billion), but it accounted for just 15.5 per cent of total aid, the smallest share since fiscal 2001.”

Public health initiatives received the largest share of US foreign aid spending last year, at 23.1 per cent, including funds for combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria, flu and other diseases; promoting maternal and child health; building clean water and sewer systems.

But these programs received a total of $10.9 billion in fiscal 2025, down from $15.2 billion in fiscal 2024.

Read the full report: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/07/21/us-foreign-aid-is-plunging-in-second-trump-administration/