Ambassador Haley on the Release of the U.S. Report on UN Voting Practices

26 April 2018

Today, the State Department released its annual UN Voting Practices Report as required by Congress for the last 34 years. The report includes a comparison of voting records between the United States and other countries on UN General Assembly resolutions. Of the 93 resolutions that were voted last year, on average other countries voted with the United States only 31 percent of the time – a 10 percentage point drop from 2016 but at a rate that is historically near average.

“The American people pay 22 percent of the UN budget – more than the next three highest donor countries combined. In spite of this generosity, the rest of the UN voted with us only 31 percent of the time, a lower rate than in 2016. That’s because we care more about being right than popular and are once again standing up for our interests and values. Either way, this is not an acceptable return on our investment. When we arrived at the UN last year, we said we would be taking names, and this list of voting records speaks for itself. President Trump wants to ensure that our foreign assistance dollars – the most generous in the world – always serve American interests, and we look forward to helping him see that the American people are no longer taken for granted,” said Ambassador Haley.

The 10 countries with the highest voting coincidence with the United States were Israel, Micronesia, Canada, Marshall Islands, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Palau, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. The 10 countries with the lowest voting coincidence with the United States were Zimbabwe, Burundi, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Bolivia, and South Africa.

The full report can be accessed here.

From the report:

Allies and Adversaries: In 2017, Israel had the highest voting coincidence with the United States, and Zimbabwe had the lowest. The 10 countries with the highest voting coincidence with the United States were, in descending order: Israel, Micronesia, Canada, Marshall Islands, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Palau, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. The 10 countries with the lowest voting coincidence with the United States were, in ascending order: Zimbabwe, Burundi, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Bolivia, and South Africa.

Issued by the United States Mission to the United Nations, 26 April 2018