The United Nations is facing the risk of an unprecedented financial collapse as member states fail to pay their mandatory contributions, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned, cautioning that the organisation could run out of money as early as July.
In a strongly worded letter to all 193 member states, Guterres said the UN’s financial crisis was “deepening” and already threatening the delivery of critical programmes worldwide. He stressed that the situation was fundamentally different from past funding challenges, noting that several countries had now formally announced their refusal to honour assessed contributions that make up a significant portion of the UN’s regular budget.
According to Guterres, only 77 per cent of total assessed contributions were paid in 2025, leaving a record level of unpaid dues. The shortfall has been compounded by a financial rule requiring the UN to return unspent funds for programmes it cannot implement — even when the money was never received in the first place.
“I cannot overstate the urgency of the situation we now face,” Guterres wrote. “We cannot execute budgets with uncollected funds, nor return funds we never received.”
He revealed that just this month, the UN was forced to refund $227 million as part of the 2026 assessment process, despite not having collected the funds. The secretary-general warned that unless member states either pay their dues in full and on time or agree to a fundamental overhaul of the organisation’s financial rules, the UN faces an “imminent financial collapse”.
The crisis has been exacerbated by the actions of the United States, the UN’s largest contributor. Washington declined to pay into the UN’s regular budget in 2025 and provided only 30 per cent of its expected funding for peacekeeping operations. In January, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from dozens of international organisations, including 31 UN agencies, describing them as a waste of taxpayer money and accusing them of advancing “globalist agendas”.
While the US pledged $2 billion for UN humanitarian programmes in late December, the figure represents a sharp drop from the $17 billion it spent in 2022. Trump has also criticised the UN for failing to meet its “great potential” and has hinted at replacing some of its functions with alternative structures under US oversight.
Other major donors, including the United Kingdom and Germany, have also announced cuts to foreign aid, further tightening the UN’s financial position.
The impact is already being felt across the organisation. At UN offices in Geneva, cost-cutting measures include turning off escalators and reducing heating. Several agencies have warned of severe operational consequences: the UN human rights office says it can no longer deploy investigators to document serious violations, UN Women has closed mother-and-baby clinics in Afghanistan, and the World Food Programme has reduced food rations for refugees fleeing the war in Sudan.
Guterres has repeatedly sounded the alarm in recent months, previously describing the situation as a “race to bankruptcy”. With humanitarian needs rising globally and funding shrinking, the UN chief said the integrity and future of the entire system now depend on whether member states are willing to meet their obligations.
Melissa Enoch
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