Flows · Study 001 · The 90-second brief

How much of what the UN system receives can it actually allocate?

An independent gap reading of UN system financing, 2011-2024, built only from published CEB data. Every figure is sourced.

Unrestricted funding, share of total revenue
44.1%28.0%

Assessed plus core contributions, 2011 and 2024.

Core share of total revenue, 2024
7.8%

Core is the funding an entity allocates itself.

US share of government contributions, 2024
30.6%

Share of direct government contributions from the United States.

Unrestricted vs earmarked, share of total revenue, 2011-2024
Line chart, 2011 to 2024. Unrestricted funding (assessed plus core) moves from 44.1% to 28.0% of total revenue; earmarked funding moves from 49.6% to 60.6%.

Source: CEB Financial Statistics (unsceb.org/data-download), 2011-2024. Unrestricted = (assessed + core) / total revenue; earmarked = voluntary earmarked / total revenue. Other revenue is in neither line. Formula and limitation: flows.json, series.unrestricted_pct_meta.

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48 entities. Entities in scope of the Funding Compact are scored; the others are shown for context.

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A personal study by Oriol Cervantes. Not an official UN document. LinkedIn · oriolcervantes.com

About this study

Why this study exists

The CEB and UNGM publish UN system financing in detail, but across many separate datasets that are rarely read together. Flows puts those public series side by side, so that funding quality, donor concentration and reporting gaps can be discussed on the same evidence.

Method in three lines. 1. Download the published CEB Financial Statistics, CEB HR Statistics and UNGM reports. 2. Compute every headline figure with one script into a single file, flows.json, that stores source, years, formula and limitation. 3. Publish only what the data supports, and show gaps as gaps. Full methodology.

No inference of intent · No political position · No affiliation
Author
Oriol Cervantes

Data and operations professional with around fifteen years at UNDP, UNICEF and WHO. Flows is an independent study published by Carta Blanca Labs and does not represent the views of any organisation.

LinkedIn profile · oriolcervantes.com
CEB data as published, reference year 2024 · Downloaded 2026-10 · Build 2026-11 · v1.6.2 · Coverage 2011–2024 · Source file: flows.json · Changelog