Overview
- In a Jan. 28 letter to all member states, the secretary-general said the UN cannot fully execute the 2026 program budget unless collections improve sharply.
- The UN closed 2025 with a record $1.568 billion in unpaid dues, with only 76.7% of assessed contributions collected and liquidity reserves nearly exhausted.
- UN data show only 36 of 193 member states had fully paid their 2026 regular contributions as of Thursday.
- The United States has cut voluntary funding and declined or delayed some mandatory payments; an anonymous UN official told the Associated Press the U.S. owes multiple billions across regular and peacekeeping budgets.
- Guterres highlighted delayed reimbursements to troop-contributing countries and warned of further spending cuts, with agencies preparing program reductions and potential layoffs.