The United Nations (UN) is facing the worst financial crisis in its 81 years since its founding in 1945. The unprecedented situation in which the core body responsible for international peace and security must shut its doors for lack of operating funds has become a reality.
Secretary-General António Guterres warned on the 30th of last month (local time) that "the entire organization could collapse because member states have not paid their assessed contributions." At the current pace, all available cash could run out as early as July this year. In a letter sent that day to ambassadors of all 196 member states, Guterres said "the situation is more serious than at any time in the past," flagging the imminent risk of financial collapse. He then strongly urged the international community to make a responsible decision.
This crisis is seen as the result of structural flaws and political conflict that shake the very basis for the UN's existence, going beyond a simple budget shortfall. Senior UN officials have defined the situation not as a temporary cash crunch but as "the first case where the regular budget system could effectively stop functioning."
The amount of unpaid assessments the UN has been saddled with hit a record high last year. As of the end of 2025, the aggregates of mandatory contributions that member states have not paid total about $1.57 billion (about 2.29 trillion won). That is more than double from a year earlier. The financial crisis has deepened in particular as the United States, the largest contributor, sharply reduced its contributions in the second Trump administration. As of 2024, the United States was a key country covering 22% of the UN regular budget.
However, President Donald Trump last year called the UN a waste of taxpayer money and carried out withdrawals from major bodies and a halt to funding. Trump declared the launch of the "Board of Peace" in Davos last month and signed its founding charter. It started with a Gaza cease-fire and reconstruction plan, but he also hinted at plans to expand the body into a broader conflict mediation platform that would replace the UN.
According to Reuters, the amount the United States currently owes is estimated to exceed about $4 billion (about 5.84 trillion won) when combining the regular budget and peacekeeping operations. UN officials say U.S. arrears amount to $2.19 billion (about 3.2 trillion won) for the regular budget and $1.88 billion (about 2.74 trillion won) related to peacekeeping.
The UN calculates each country's assessment by reflecting the size of its economy. But as the United States, the largest contributor, has delayed or halted payments, other major countries have also been pushing back their payments. China has raised its share to about 20%, but it has repeated the practice of paying at the end of each year or later, destabilizing the UN's cash flow throughout the year. Russia, too, has been piling up cases of delaying or failing to pay its peacekeeping assessments amid sanctions following the war in Ukraine. Experts noted that as countries facing fiscal crises such as Argentina, Venezuela and Lebanon join the ranks of those in arrears, the perception is spreading that "there are no penalties for paying late."
The fallout from the financial depletion is expected to be widespread. The UN said that if it fails to secure the cash needed by July, it will have to shut down its headquarters in New York in August. If the headquarters closes, the Security Council, where permanent members gather to discuss international conflicts, will also be suspended. The UN General Assembly, the world's largest diplomatic event held every September, is also at risk of cancellation. The channel for world leaders to gather in one place to discuss urgent issues such as the climate crisis and wars would disappear.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which oversees humanitarian work and responds to disaster sites worldwide, is also on the list for shutdown. If core functions are paralyzed, relief in conflict zones and support for natural disasters are likely to be hit immediately. If funds are completely depleted, even the salaries of personnel deployed to conflict mediation and peacekeeping could be cut off starting in July.
According to internal UN documents, if the cash runs out, salary payments for Secretariat staff and building maintenance costs would have to be cut first. The Geneva headquarters in Switzerland has already begun extreme cost-saving measures, stopping escalators and drastically lowering heating temperatures. As a result, morale is dropping on the ground and fear of layoffs is spreading. Major outlets, citing diplomatic sources, said "the closure of UN headquarters goes beyond shock; it would deny the very reason for the UN's existence."
Agencies funded by voluntary donations, such as UNICEF and the World Food Program, will not shut down immediately like the UN headquarters. However, if the coordinating functions of UN headquarters stop, field response capacity will plummet. Payment delays to companies supplying goods needed to operate peacekeeping forces have also emerged as a serious problem. Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, said, "As large-scale layoffs and program suspensions become a reality, the exodus of skilled personnel is accelerating," adding, "There is now an internal consensus that this is not mere bluster—that the organization could actually stop."