In 2017, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) notified the Cook Islands that they would be classified as a developed country and no longer appear on the DAC list for Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The Cook Islands Goverment negotiated to postpone the final decision in order to provide more accurate data on GNI until end of 2018.
OECD is planning to take the final decision in the first quarter of 2019.