About the Data
A team of researchers at William & Mary, a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, built AidData to track China’s financing of its overseas development projects. The database seeks to be the most comprehensive of its kind. It includes projects between 2000 and 2021 in mostly low- or middle-income countries that benefit from financial or in-kind support from China’s government and state-owned enterprises. The database provides detailed financial, operational and geographic information on 20,985 projects, and is based on over 147,000 sources. Funding for the William & Mary dataset comes from governmental, private and public foundations.
All U.S. dollar amounts in the database are listed in inflation-adjusted 2021 values so that projects can be compared over time. Projects listed as costing zero dollars have a financial value that is difficult to determine and include in-kind donations, technical assistance, scholarships and training activities. VOA excluded suspended and canceled projects from the dataset.
Updated: January 22, 2024
Project credits
- Project coordinator: Elizabeth Lee
- Writer and researcher: Megan Duzor
- Designer and developer: Brian Williamson
- Web developer: Edin Beslagic
- Editor: Sharon Shahid
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By the Numbers
China’s Global Development Spending
China’s spending on global development projects has surpassed $1 trillion since the turn of the century, making Beijing one of the world’s most sought-after financiers. Over a 22-year-period beginning in 2000, China spent at least $1.34 trillion on more than 20,985 projects across 165 countries, according to the AidData research lab at William & Mary, a public university in Virginia.
The AidData research aims to shed light on China’s often opaque grant giving and lending activities in low- and middle-income countries. The data shows China significantly increased its spending on international development projects since launching its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, and in its early years, outspent the United States and other major powers by a scale of 2-1 or more.
To compete with Beijing, the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies combined have been increasing their development spending and in 2021, outspent China on international development projects by $84 billion. However, AidData researchers say it is not clear if the United States and its allies have the “financial firepower to compete dollar-for-dollar with Beijing” in the long term because of China’s vast foreign exchange reserves.
Instructions: Explore the data by clicking on any link or country on the map. Scroll down to see the projects sorted by sector and year. Click on any year to find detailed profiles of all projects.
China's development spending by region
China's development spending by sector
Projects are classified according to their primary focus.
*All U.S. dollar amounts in the database are listed in inflation-adjusted 2021 values so that projects can be compared over time. Dollars are rounded to the nearest million.
Projects are classified according to their primary focus. Sector categories are based on a classification system from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Source: AidData Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, Version 3.0
China's development spending by country
*All U.S. dollar amounts in the database are listed in inflation-adjusted 2021 values so that projects can be compared over time. Dollars are rounded to the nearest $10,000.
Source: AidData Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, Version 3.0
The number of projects per sector
*All U.S. dollar amounts in the database are listed in inflation-adjusted 2021 values so that projects can be compared over time. Dollars are rounded to the nearest $10,000.
Projects are classified according to their primary focus. Sector categories are based on a classification system from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Source: AidData Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, Version 3.0
Projects per year
The year denotes when a formal project agreement was signed. In cases where no agreement date is identifiable, the listed year is the first year the project began. In the event the project had not yet begun, the year is from when the underlying commercial contract was issued or an informal pledge was made.
*All U.S. dollar amounts in the database are listed in inflation-adjusted 2021 values so that projects can be compared over time. Dollars are rounded to the nearest $10,000.
Source: AidData Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, Version 3.0
*All U.S. dollar amounts in the database are listed in inflation-adjusted 2021 values so that projects can be compared over time.
Source: AidData Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, Version 3.0
*All U.S. dollar amounts in the database are listed in inflation-adjusted 2021 values so that projects can be compared over time. Dollars are rounded to the nearest $10,000.
Source: AidData Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, Version 3.0
Projects per year
The year denotes when a formal project agreement was signed. In cases where no agreement date is identifiable, the listed year is the first year the project began. In the event the project had not yet begun, the year is from when the underlying commercial contract was issued or an informal pledge was made.
China’s development spending in this sector by country
*All U.S. dollar amounts in the database are listed in inflation-adjusted 2021 values so that projects can be compared over time. Dollars are rounded to the nearest $10,000.
The year denotes when a formal project agreement was signed. In cases where no agreement date is identifiable, the listed year is the first year the project began. In the event the project had not yet begun, the year is from when the underlying commercial contract was issued or an informal pledge was made.
Source: AidData Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, Version 3.0