United Nations on the Brink of a Financial Crunch: Funding May Last Only Six More Months

In a recent letter to member states, the UN Secretary-General warned that the organization is at risk of an “imminent financial collapse,” driven by widespread unpaid dues and a budget rule that requires the UN to return unspent funds.

While the Secretary-General has previously highlighted the UN’s worsening liquidity strain, this message is his strongest warning to date.

The alarm comes as the United Nations faces sharper pressure from shifting multilateral dynamics—most notably as the United States, its largest contributor, steps back in several areas. The U.S. has significantly reduced voluntary contributions to UN agencies and has also declined to pay certain mandatory assessments tied to the regular budget and peacekeeping.

A financial crunch that’s escalating

On January 28, António Guterres wrote to ambassadors that the situation is deteriorating, threatening program delivery and raising the possibility of a full-scale financial breakdown—one that could worsen further in the near term.

Founded in 1945 and comprising 193 member states, the UN works to maintain international peace and security, advance human rights, support social and economic development, and coordinate humanitarian assistance.

Under UN rules, assessed contributions are calculated based largely on a country’s economic capacity. The United States accounts for 22% of the core budget, while China contributes 20%.

According to Guterres, by the end of 2025, outstanding unpaid assessments reached a record $1.57 billion—though he did not name which countries are in arrears.

He underscored that the UN now faces a clear choice: either all member states meet their obligations in full and on time, or member states must fundamentally reform the UN’s financial rules to avert the looming crisis.

The U.S. arrears and voting-rights concerns

UN officials have previously said the United States currently owes $2.19 billion to the UN regular budget, plus $188 million for current peacekeeping operations and $52.8 million related to past peacekeeping missions.

This unfolds as the U.S. continues to pull back from multilateral engagement across multiple fronts. President Donald Trump has said the UN has “tremendous potential” but has not lived up to it, and he has recently established what he called a “Peace Commission,” prompting concern among some observers that the UN’s influence could be weakened.

According to CCTV News, the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson warned on January 8 that if the United States continues to fall behind on its assessed contributions, it could eventually lose its voting rights in the United Nations General Assembly.

The spokesperson confirmed that the U.S. did not pay its dues last year and noted that this outcome would follow established rules—specifically Article 19 of the United Nations Charter—rather than any discretionary decision by the Secretary-General.

Funding could run out before July

To address cost pressures and boost efficiency, Guterres launched a reform task force known as “UN80.” As part of the broader effort, member states agreed to cut the UN’s 2026 budget by roughly 7%, bringing it down to $3.45 billion.

Even so, Guterres cautioned in his letter that the organization could still run out of funds before July this year.

He also pointed to an additional structural challenge: some financial rules are outdated. One such rule requires the UN to return hundreds of millions of dollars each year from unused member-state contributions.

In Guterres’s words, this creates a “Kafkaesque” loop—forcing the UN to refund money that, in practical terms, it does not actually have available.