The Aid Transparency Index is the only independent measure of aid transparency among the world’s major development agencies. It is the flagship publication of Publish What You Fund.

The Index tracks and measures aid organisations’ progress towards transparency. This public comparative ranking, based on a robust methodology, enables us to identify changes needed and galvanise major aid agencies to progressively increase and improve the aid and development information they make available. Read more about the significance of the Index and what it has achieved.

2026 Aid Transparency Index

The 2026 Aid Transparency Index, published in November 2026, revealed that most of the world’s leading aid and development agencies are still publishing good-quality information, after the steepest fall in aid on record.

Key findings:

• 20 of the 33 organisations assessed (61%) were rated “good” or “very good”, and only three were rated “poor” or “very poor”. The average score held broadly steady, at 62.1 compared with 62.7 in 2024.
• Multilateral organisations continue to lead. The African Development Bank – sovereign portfolio came first for the third edition in a row with 98.8, followed by the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank’s International Development Association, which shared second place with 97.1.
• Spain’s AECID rose 57.7 points, from 5.0 to 62.7, the biggest improvement in the Index’s history. Australia, France and Japan also made significant gains and Belgium was the top performing bilateral agency.
• Transparency gains can’t be taken for granted. The UAE, Finland, Germany, the Global Fund and the UK all saw substantial falls.
• The US State Department, now the only US agency in the Index after the closure of USAID, scored 42.6, which is 23.5 points below USAID’s 2024 score.
• Performance information remains the weakest area, averaging just 7.5 out of 20. The public can often see what was spent, but not what it achieved.
• AI tools are making aid data easier to analyse, but they cannot make up for missing, inaccurate or out-of-date information.

See all the results here

Catch up on the launch event, featuring a keynote address from Dr Sidi Ould Tah, President of the African Development Bank Group.

Between 2012 and 2024, the Aid Transparency Index operated as a global public good, was philanthropically funded and focused on the world’s leading aid organisations. From the 2026 edition onwards, the Index has evolved into an accreditation-based model. A wider range of aid and development organisations can sign up to a paid-for accreditation and assessment offering, which includes engagement and feedback, capacity building, and recognition for their transparency performance. Read more about the accreditation process.

Sign up for the 2028 Aid Transparency Index

We are now inviting agencies to sign up to participate in the 2028 Aid Transparency Index.

The Index now offers an annual intake cycle, enabling organisations to participate at the point that best reflects their transparency journey. View our information pack for all the details on the 2027 intake, for organisations seeking to participate in the 2028 Aid Transparency Index. Organisations can sign up from November 2026 to access pre-Index benefits throughout 2027.

Regardless of which intake you join, participants benefit from pre- and post-Index engagement, as well as auxiliary benefits such as training and peer learning. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to openness and accountability. By participating, you will receive an in-depth assessment, detailed feedback, and tailored recommendations on the quality and completeness of your aid and development disclosures. The process will also support you in improving the quality of your public data and enable you to benchmark your performance against your peers. Upon completion, you will obtain official accreditation and the Aid Transparency Index Accreditation Seal. 

2024 Aid Transparency Index results

The results of the 2024 Aid Transparency Index are here.

Key highlights include:

• The highest recorded scores for the world’s major aid agencies – more agencies achieve scores in the ‘very good’ category and the highest ever average score.
• The Index itself is a powerful driver of change in transparency policy and practice.
• More aid and development agencies, journalists, think tanks and civil society organisations are using the data to improve aid effectiveness and hold donors to account for their commitments to tackle poverty, conflict and the climate crisis.
• The African Development Bank -Sovereign Portfolio retained its top spot in the Index, with a score of 98.8 out of 100. The Inter-American Development Bank ranked second with a score of 96.3, and the highest-ranking bilateral aid agency, the US Millennium Challenge Corporation came third with 93.0.
• Some agencies still have a long way to go to improve their transparency, and more information on impact and performance is urgently needed.

Aid transparency tools

We have released a range of online transparency tools, to assist agencies with the publication of aid and development information.

“Aid transparency based on sharing accurate, timely, comprehensive and comparable data is really important. It should be a non-negotiable commitment. There’s no scope or luxury for us to work in isolation. If we’d like to bring more connectivity, there’s no alternative but publishing the data in the humanitarian and development field."

- Shahana Hayat, Christian Aid, Bangladesh 2020