NationMaster - Discussion - Economy > Commitment to foreign aid

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Discussion - Economy > Commitment to foreign aid

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Reuben 29th June 2005	It makes you sick to think how much money USA has spent invading Iraq, but how little they have given to countries who need real food/water/health aid like tsunami victims and african nations. Also, statistic in the london metro today, USA writes off more personal debts in America, than they do in foriegn aid debts.
Michael 3rd July 2005	Reuben, Mark Brady - I find it sad that you think that this site creates an excuse to hide behind a comptuer screen and throw self-righteous comments at other nations. It is true that all countries have strengths and weaknesses. I do not think America is obligated to give foreign aid, but instead it is priviledged to do so. Besides, it is America's citizens, not its government, that contributes the highest amount of international aid. That statistic is not always reflected.
Yasmin Jafferi 5th July 2005	Michael, Is it your opinion that America's citizens contributes the highest amount of interntion aid? If it is factual, I would like some facts, figures and references to support the claim. Thank you.
James SSC 11th July 2005	Yasmin, It is in deed factual, you can see that fact on this very site. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/dis_tsu_fun_ple_by_ngo_and_pub
Craig 1st August 2005	Mark Brady (2005-06-27) Has a strong point, try separating the Military Spending stats and the Foreign Aid stats, it means more that way.
Jason 1st August 2005	Here's a start: http://www.techcentralstation.com/082102N.html On avarage, the US government givers $17 to $19 Billion in aid per year (nearly twice any other nation), but this looks statistically low because it is less than the .7 percent of GDP that was agreed upon by the UN. The American people average $35 Billion per year for charitable aid. This is not counting a whole bunch of programs within the US for foreign nationals that could be argued to be more beneficial to the US than a foreign entity and therefore, not really "aid".
arentol 2nd August 2005	This comparison provides no information of value in regards to who provides significant foreign aid. For instance, the only reason Denmark can provide so much foreign aid relative to it's military expenses is because it has virtually no military expenses thanks to the significant NATO countries like the UK and the US who provide virtually all military defense for Denmark.
Dan 2nd August 2005	It is actually a fact that the people of the US contribute very generously; however, that doesn't mean that they would've done it without the incentives to do so.
Graham Webb 3rd September 2005	Michael, Your comments are a sad reflection of the moral choices your Countries citizens make. Giving aid is not a privilege, or an obligation, it is an act of humility and a tacit sign that individuals understand the inbalance of wealth on this planet. As has been suggested America falls far behind in recognising these issues.
tomas 3rd September 2005	This data is well out of date now? http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1699331,00.html Apparently Germany was donating 0.7% of GDP as far back as 2000. EU average was 0.36% of GDP. US at 0.16% GDP.
Rory 28th September 2005	These are all good comments. I would like to point out that alot of the problems that are occurring in, say, africa, are due to faulty and narrowly focused policies implemented by the World Bank and other "donors," policies that have both directly and indirectly led to the exacerbation of extreme poverty in africa through Desertification, other forms of Land Degradation, and the subsequent forced migration of the peasantry off of their farms and into unknown territories. As the US is the largest donor to the World Bank, and has obvious influence over the projects the Bank implements, it is only fairt to effectively 'reimburse' the countries whose economies and livelihood have been damaged by the so-called "aid" programs pushed on them by the World Bank. In addition, as our own multinational pharmaceutical companies are keeping the price of necessary AIDS and malaria medicines too high to be affordable to the majority of those who need them, it is only fair that the US kick up its development aid to countries like Africa.
Ryan King 6th December 2005	The US gives the lowest percentage of its GDP to aid of all the aid givers. The lastest figure put it at 0.19%, compared to the 1% given by Norway. Isreal receives the largest portion of US aid at $3 bil. Isreal is the largest aid recipient in the world. Even though it is richer than half the OECD nations. Mr Brady: Since when did the US pay the defence budgets of all western European nations? It did not pay the defence budgets of any of the NATO nations. And lets not forget that a number of Western European nations are not even in NATO: Finland, Switzerland, Sweden. Also France, although a NATO member, does not have any US bases at all.
FRANK 15th December 2005	Considering that the US spend 30x that of any other nation including Russia, China and Israel in military to police and protect the rest of the sick world societies, it makes your stats insignificant and worthless from my point of view.
Steve 22nd January 2006	arentol: this is 2006, not 1980? Western Europe has no local security concerns, even less so Scandinavia. The US does not "provide virtually all military defense" for denmark.

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