Search Results - USAID

United States Agency for International Development

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a ''de jure'' US agency for foreign aid. Although USAID was once the world's largest aid agency, the Trump administration ended 83% of its projects in February 2025.

Established during the Cold War in 1961, USAID initially served to counter the Soviet Union through soft power. From 2001 to 2024, USAID had an average budget of $23 billion a year and missions in over 100 countries in areas as diverse as education, global health, environmental protection, and democratic governance. From 2001 to 2021, an estimated 92 million deaths were likely prevented by USAID funding, including an estimated range of between 26 and 35 million among children younger than five.

In July 2025, the Trump administration announced that remaining USAID programs would be run by the State Department, with USAID in the process of closing. However, USAID had been reorganized by United States Congress as an independent agency in 1998 and can only be closed down by an act of Congress. In addition, budget requests, the Office of Inspector General, and court filings have continued to acknowledge USAID's legal existence. Provided by Wikipedia