The United Nations General Assembly has approved a regular budget of $3.45 billion for the 2026 financial year.
The budget was adopted on Tuesday by the 193-member General Assembly after weeks of intense negotiations, culminating in one of the UN’s most significant restructuring initiatives in recent years, known as UN80.
In total, the Assembly authorised $3,450,426,300 to fund the organisation’s core operations in 2026. The approved budget will support the UN’s three central pillars: peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights.
The spending plan largely reflects proposals by Secretary-General António Guterres to reduce financial resources by about 15 per cent and cut staffing levels by nearly 19 per cent, as the organisation adjusts to financial pressures and seeks greater efficiency.
The regular budget covers the UN’s essential functions, including political affairs, international justice and law, humanitarian coordination, regional development cooperation, public information, and the promotion of human rights. It operates separately from the UN peacekeeping budget, which follows a July-to-June fiscal cycle.
UN Controller Chandramouli Ramanathan praised delegates of the Fifth Committee, the General Assembly’s main budgetary body for completing what he described as a complex and compressed negotiation process.
He noted that the Secretariat had just six weeks to assemble the entire budget, produce hundreds of financial tables, and respond to thousands of queries from member states and oversight bodies.
Ramanathan cautioned that budget approval marks the start of a demanding implementation phase, revealing that about 2,900 positions will be abolished from January 1, 2026, while at least 1,000 staff separations have already been completed.
He appealed to member states to maintain timely payment of assessed contributions, welcoming what he described as a record level of potential advance payments toward the 2026 budget.
