UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that the world organization is on the brink of financial collapse. He warned that the world body was heading for “imminent financial collapse” as member states fell behind on annual contributions and structural funding problems deepened.
According to Al Jazeera, Guterres recently sent a letter to all UN member states warning of serious financial problems.
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In a letter to all 193 member states, he wrote that they must meet their mandatory payments or overhaul the organization’s financial rules to avoid collapse, the BBC reported.
In the letter, he reportedly urged governments to either reform the budget rules or face “the very real prospect of the financial collapse of our organization”. He also called on countries to settle their outstanding dues.
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In a Jan. 28 letter seen by Bloomberg News, Guterres said a budget rule requiring the U.N. to return any unspent money made it difficult for the organization to remain liquid. “The more we save, the more we are penalized,” he wrote.
Unpaid fees hit record high…
Guterres said unpaid fees reached a record $1.57 billion by the end of 2025, without identifying the countries responsible, according to Al Jazeera.
He reiterated the urgency of reform, warning: “Either all member states honor their commitments to pay in full and on time – or member states must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to avoid imminent financial collapse.”
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Is Trump responsible?
The institution has long been strapped for cash, but has been especially strapped since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The BBC claimed that the US had failed to pay its contribution to the UN’s regular budget in 2025 and offered only 30 percent of its expected funding for UN peacekeeping operations.
In addition, the Trump administration has announced plans to withdraw from several UN agencies and has also supported what Trump calls the “Board of Peace” initiative.
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The ‘Board of Peace’ was originally supposed to help manage Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but Trump has used it as a replacement for the UN, which he says has failed to fulfill its potential.
In this regard, Al Jazeera reported that some experts believe that the initiative aims to sideline the UN.
Louis Charbonneau, director of Human Rights Watch at the United Nations, said of the proposal: “Trump’s council appears to be a kind of paid global club, judging by the $1 billion permanent membership fee.”
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He added: “Instead of handing Trump $1 billion checks, governments should work together to protect the UN and other institutions set up to promote international human rights and humanitarian law, global rule of law and accountability.”
The US has officially left the UN World Health Organization (WHO). It has refused to pay its dues for 2024 and 2025, despite being required by law to do so, according to WHO lawyers. Other agencies are also making huge cuts.
How much does the US owe to the UN?
The US accounts for 22 percent of the organization’s core budget, followed by China with 20 percent.
The U.S. still owes the U.N. about $1.4 billion in arrears from years past, according to Bloomberg, on top of a $767 million bill for this year’s budget, according to a senior U.N. official.
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In 2025, the White House paid none of its $826 million in fees. The US reportedly pledged $2 billion to the humanitarian arm of the organization in December, while refusing to pay its mandatory dues.
UN budget
Guterres is seeking to curb spending and reverse funding problems from 2024. The UN has already cut this year’s budget by 7 percent from the previous year.
Under the current system, UN membership fees are calculated based on factors such as national gross domestic product, debt levels and economic capacity, with the United States contributing 22 percent of the core budget, followed by China at 20 percent.
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Even as financial pressures mount, the UN earlier this month approved a 2026 budget of $3.45 billion, reflecting a 7 percent cut from last year, as the organization seeks to curb spending.
But despite these cost-cutting moves, Guterres warned in his letter that the UN could run out of cash reserves by July.
He also pointed to what he called an outdated rule that requires the organization to return hundreds of millions of dollars in unused funds to member states each year.
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Guterres highlighted the impact of this mechanism, saying, as reported by Al Jazeera: “In other words, we are trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle of being expected to return cash that does not exist.”
Figures published on the organisation’s website reflect the scale of the challenge, showing that by Thursday only 36 of the 193 UN member states had fully paid their regular contributions for 2026.
