UN at risk of 'imminent financial collapse', secretary general warns

The United Nations is at risk of "imminent financial collapse" due to member states not paying their fees, the body's head has warned.

António Guterres said the UN faced a financial crisis which was "deepening, threatening programme delivery", and that money could run out by July.

He wrote in a letter to all 193 member states that they had to honour their mandatory payments or overhaul the organisation's financial rules to avoid collapse.

It comes after the UN's largest contributor, the US, refused to contribute to its regular and peacekeeping budgets, and withdrew from several agencies it called a "waste of taxpayer dollars". Several other members are in arrears or are simply refusing to pay.

Guterres wrote in his letter that the UN had faced financial crises in the past but that the current situation was "categorically different".

He said the "integrity of the entire system" depended on states adhering to their obligation under the UN charter to pay their "assessed contributions", adding that 2025 ended with a record amount unpaid - equivalent to 77% of the total owed.

"I cannot overstate the urgency of the situation we now face. We cannot execute budgets with uncollected funds, nor return funds we never received."

As a result, the UN is now returning millions of dollars that it never actually received.

"The bottom line is clear," Guterres wrote. "Either all member states honour their obligations to pay in full and on time – or member states must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse."

The US is the UN's largest contributor, but President Donald Trump has said it was not fulfilling its "great potential" and has criticised it for failing to support US-led peace efforts.

Then in January, Trump withdrew it from dozens of international organisations, including 31 UN agencies, to "end American taxpayer funding and involvement in entities that advance globalist agendas over US priorities".

Other countries, such as the UK and Germany, have also announced significant reductions in foreign aid, which will inevitably impact the UN's work.

Trump has separately been accused by critics of seeking to replace some functions of the UN with his Board of Peace to oversee regeneration efforts in Gaza.

The US officially left UN's World Health Organization last week. It had refused to pay its 2024 and 2025 dues despite, WHO lawyers say, being legally obliged to do so.

The UN's human rights office has warned that serious violations will now go undocumented because it lacks the funds to deploy investigators. In the past, their evidence has led to prosecutions for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In Afghanistan, which has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, UN Women has had to close mother and baby clinics.