---
title: The Ultra-Wealthy Gave $250 Billion in 2025 as Foreign Aid Fell a Record 23.1%
description: Altrata estimates people worth $30m or more gave $250bn in 2025, more than the $174.3bn donor governments gave in aid after a record 23.1% cut.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-16T11:32:52.792Z
updated: 2026-10-16T11:32:52.830Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/altrata-ultra-wealthy-giving-250-billion-2025
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-two-volunteers-loading-boxes-labeled-aid-into-a-van-for-comm-6647017.jpg
categories: Social Impact
content_type: News
region: Global
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

People worth $30 million or more gave an estimated $250 billion to philanthropy in 2025, according to Altrata, a firm that researches the wealthy. There are nearly 557,000 of them, and they accounted for 38% of all giving by individuals worldwide, up from 34% in 2018. Altrata puts their giving up 32% on 2022 levels. The $250 billion is Altrata's own model-based estimate, not a count of recorded gifts.

In the same year, donor governments made the steepest cut to foreign aid on record. Official development assistance from the 33 countries of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee fell to $174.3 billion in 2025, down 23.1% from 2024 in real terms, according to preliminary figures the OECD published on April 9, 2026, after a 6% fall in 2024. The US cut its aid by 57%, humanitarian aid fell 35.8%, and the OECD expects aid to fall by another 5.8% in 2026. By those figures, the ultra-wealthy gave more to charity in 2025 than all of those governments together gave in aid.

## Altrata Says Private Donors Cannot Easily Replace Government Aid

Altrata says in its report that private philanthropy cannot easily replace "the scale, continuity and public-good function of government aid", and it warns of "a potential mismatch in giving focus." Government and multilateral aid has historically paid for essential and often less visible health and logistics infrastructure, and for basic humanitarian services. Individual and foundation donors, Altrata says, usually prefer projects that are more innovative or easier to measure.

Altrata notes, citing industry studies, that foreign aid, global health and refugee programs have been hit by funding pressures and restructuring, while giving has held firm for most other causes, particularly education, social services, arts and culture, and medical research. The UK had already cut its pledge to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, and an EU briefing had suggested ending support for Gavi and the Global Fund by 2030, as [Sovereign reported in October 2025](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/if-europe-pulls-back-who-fills-the-gap-when-gavi-and-the-global-fund-lose-eu-support).

Some 60% of the world's wealthy have given to education at least once in the past decade, close to twice the share of the next-ranked cause. The share of wealthy donors giving to environmental causes, including climate, was 26% higher in 2021-25 than in 2015-20, and the share giving to healthcare and medical research rose about 15%.

## The Pool of Potential Donors Will Reach 8.3 Million People by 2031, Altrata Forecasts

Altrata forecasts that the number of [people worth $5 million or more](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/the-massive-transfer-of-wealth-reshaping-real-estate) will grow from 5.8 million in 2025 to 8.3 million by 2031, and that their liquid assets, which Altrata treats as a measure of how much they could give at short notice, will top $45 trillion by then, up from $33 trillion.

Altrata's full report, High Net Worth Philanthropy 2026, is at [altrata.com](https://altrata.com/reports/high-net-worth-philanthropy-2026).

## FAQ

**Q: What counts as ultra high net worth?**
Altrata counts people worth $30 million or more as ultra high net worth. The nearly 557,000 people in that group make up 1.1% of the world's millionaires.

**Q: How does Altrata estimate how much the ultra-wealthy give?**
Altrata uses its own Philanthropic Giving Model. It takes the average share of their wealth that ultra-wealthy people donate in each market, drawn from its database of wealthy individuals, and applies it to its estimates of their total wealth. The estimate excludes anonymous donations, and it also excludes corporate, government and multilateral giving. Altrata says inflation has lifted recent totals, but it still finds broad-based increases in annual giving after accounting for inflation.