OECD Donor Countries’ Internal Refugee Spendings Almost Doubled in 2015

Donor countries to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's official development assistance (OECD ODA) spent almost twice as much money on aid to refugees at home in 2015 as they did in the previous year, official statistics revealed Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to OECD, comprising 34 world's developed countries, the wealthy states’ spending on the refugee crisis at home amounted to 9 percent of the combined aid budget — over $12 billion — in 2015. In 2014, the donor countries spent $6.6 billion on the issue.

"Countries have had to find large sums to cover the costs of an historic refugee crisis in Europe, and most have so far avoided diverting money from development programmes. These efforts must continue," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said, as quoted on the organization’s website.

According to the OECD statistics, European countries affected most by the migrant crisis experienced a surge in official development assistance (ODA) spending last year, which is reportedly linked to the growing "in-donor" refugee costs.

Greece’s and Sweden’s ODAs were affected most, rising by 39 and 37 percent, accordingly. Germany experienced an ODA rise of just under 26 percent, according to the statistics.

Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries in the Middle East and North Africa to escape violence and poverty. The EU border agency Frontex detected over 1.85 million illegal border crossings in 2015.