Two years of war: Germany's biggest supporter of Ukraine?

Germany is considered to be Ukraine's second largest supporter after the United States. But measured in terms of economic power, the Federal Republic lags far behind. Smaller EU countries provide significantly more.

It has been two years since Olaf Scholz used the big word “a breakthrough” in a special session of the Bundestag. The president responded to the Russian attack on Ukraine three days earlier. The world after is not like the world before. “We now have five orders of action before us. First, we need to support Ukraine in this desperate situation.” Emphasized Scholz on February 27, 2022. But how much support has Germany actually provided since then?

41 billion euros from Germany

Central Govt “This is how Germany supports UkraineIt can read: “Since the Russian attack on February 24, 2022, Germany has already provided aid to Ukraine worth a total of around 32 billion euros – in the form of humanitarian support, direct cash or weapons.”

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) comes up with even more, “Ukraine support trackerAccording to this, between January 24, 2022 and January 15, 2024, around 41 billion euros of support payments have been received. In addition to approximately 22 billion euros in bilateral aid, the German share of EU support payments is almost 19 billion euros.

The US is clearly ahead in absolute numbers

The IfW Ukraine Support Tracker records all publicly known military, financial and humanitarian aid pledged to Ukraine by the governments of 41 Western countries. So not just weapons and military equipment, but loans and aid and food and medicine.

In terms of absolute figures, Germany is undoubtedly in second place – behind the United States, which has so far provided almost 69 billion euros in support. But if you calculate the support payments against the country's economic strength, things look different.

Estonia is the largest supporter – measured by GDP

In terms of their share of gross domestic product (GDP), it is clear from statistics from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy that neither the US nor Germany are among Ukraine's biggest supporters. Instead, a small Baltic country leads: Estonia's aid to Ukraine is 3.6 percent of GDP. If the country's share of EU aid is included, the figure rises to 4.1 percent of GDP. This makes Estonia – by its own GDP – the largest supporter of Ukraine.

Denmark, Lithuania, Norway and Latvia followed suit elsewhere. In this perspective, Germany ranks tenth with 1.1 percent. In terms of GDP, the United States ranks 32nd.

Germany pays 21 billion euros for refugees

But this approach can also be limiting, as the costs of refugees in their respective countries are not taken into account. From January 24, 2022 to January 15, 2024, according to data from the “Ukraine Support Monitor”, Germany has spent 21.4 billion euros, more money than any other country for people leaving Ukraine.

However, Poland is in second place with 20.7 billion euros. Measured as a percentage of GDP, it was 3.3 percent for Poland – but only 0.6 percent for Germany. In terms of its economic output, the Federal Republic spends about as much on Ukrainian refugees as Cyprus.

If you add spending on refugees in addition to bilateral and EU aid to support payments, you get a new order of magnitude in terms of economic power: Estonia still leads the way with 4.7 percent of GDP. However, Poland is now in second place with 4.6 percent. Germany, however, fell behind in eleventh place.