The Cohesion Fund allocation seen from the viewpoint of its share in the total EU funding for cohesion policy and its aid intensity for the 1989-2020 period

The list of eligible countries, population coverage and aid intensity of the CF have changed over the years. When it was first created in 1993, the CF covered almost 17% of the EU population. Since then, Ireland (in 2003) and Spain (in the 2007-2013 transitional support) dropped out of the list due to GNI growth. After the enlargements of 2004, 2007 and 2013, the number of CF beneficiaries increased by 13. Consequently, in 2014-2020, the Fund’s population coverage reached 25.8% of the EU-28. Moreover, as illustrated in Table 2, the CF’s share in the cohesion policy funds and its aid intensity have fluctuated between 1994 and now.