DATA BRIEFS: (continued)
Poor hit hardest as aid plummets
The gulf between rich and poor has widened dramatically during the 1990s — while aid to developing countries has plummeted.
In the world's poorest countries, the average GNP slipped from $240 per person in 1990 to $232 in 1996. This contrasts with
an average GNP surge from $20,900 to $27,000 per person in donor countries during the same period.
Despite this growth in donor wealth, official development assistance (ODA) dropped to $48.3 billion in 1997. In real terms,
this was 21% lower than in 1992. For the Group of 7 — the leading industrial countries — the decline was almost 30%.
Cuts in ODA have hit hardest in poor countries where child mortality is high and access to primary education and safe drinking
water is low, and which are also bypassed by private capital flows.
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Aid as a proportion of donor countries' GNPs — a measure of their ability to provide aid — fell to an average of 0.22% in 1997,
the lowest point since 1970, when the world agreed on the aid target of 0.7% of donors' GNP. Only four countries — Denmark,
Netherlands, Norway and Sweden — consistently reach or exceed the target. Denmark earmarked 0.97% of its GNP for aid
in 1997, the highest proportion among donor countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD). The United States gave the lowest proportion, 0.09%.
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| Debt drains resources from vital services. Many countries allocate less than 10% of their national budgets to basic social services. A poor neighbourhood in Peru. |
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Denmark also led donors on the basis of aid per person, giving $311 per capita; Italy was the lowest per capita donor, giving
$22. Japan was the highest aid donor in dollar terms, allocating $9.4 billion, followed by the United States with $6.9 billion, and
France with $6.3 billion.
If all donor countries had met the aid target of 0.7% of GNP, total aid would have been more than $100 billion above the 1997
total. Maintained for 10 years, this amount would be more than enough to ensure access to basic social services — basic
education and primary health care, adequate nutrition and safe water and sanitation — for all communities.
Aid on the decline
| Amounts* |
ODA as % of
donor nations' GNP |
Total aid
($ billions)
1997 |
Aid per
person ($)
1997 |
Change per
person ($)
since 1990 |
|
% 1997 |
% 1998 |
|
|
| Denmark |
0.97 |
0.94 |
1.6 |
311 |
67 |
| Norway |
0.86 |
1.17 |
1.3 |
297 |
7 |
| Netherlands |
0.81 |
0.92 |
2.9 |
189 |
6 |
| Sweden |
0.79 |
0.91 |
1.7 |
195 |
-25 |
| Luxembourg |
0.55 |
0.21 |
0.1 |
228 |
156 |
| France |
0.45 |
0.60 |
6.3 |
108 |
-27 |
| Canada |
0.34 |
0.40 |
2.0 |
68 |
-16 |
| Switzerland |
0.34 |
0.32 |
0.9 |
126 |
5 |
| Finland |
0.33 |
- |
0.4 |
74 |
-67 |
| Belgium |
0.31 |
0.46 |
0.8 |
75 |
-24 |
| Ireland |
0.31 |
0.16 |
0.2 |
51 |
34 |
| Australia |
0.28 |
0.34 |
1.1 |
58 |
-12 |
| Germany |
0.28 |
0.42 |
5.9 |
71 |
-19 |
| Austria |
0.26 |
0.25 |
0.5 |
65 |
7 |
| New Zealand |
0.26 |
0.23 |
0.2 |
41 |
5 |
| United Kingdom |
0.26 |
0.27 |
3.4 |
59 |
5 |
| Portugal |
0.25 |
0.25 |
0.3 |
25 |
7 |
| Spain |
0.23 |
0.20 |
1.2 |
31 |
8 |
| Japan |
0.22 |
0.31 |
9.4 |
74 |
-18 |
| Italy |
0.11 |
0.31 |
1.3 |
22 |
-36 |
| United States |
0.09 |
0.21 |
6.9 |
25 |
-29 |
|
| Average/Total |
0.22 |
0.33 |
48.3 |
59 |
-18 |
*In 1997 dollars. As of 1997, aid to Israel is no longer counted in ODA.
Sources: OECD, Development Co-operation [1996 and 1998 reports], UN Population Division, World Population Prospects, 1998 revision.
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