America The Stingy: The Evidence

The charge that the US ranks among the most stingy in terms of rendering assistance to those in need around the world rests on a set of facts that almost everyone agrees upon. The number of dollars allocated in the federal budget for development abroad, taken as a percentage of a country's Gross National Product. Here are the official statistics showing the US at #22 and ranking far below countries with considerably less wealth and lower standards of living. (To continue, return to the first page of this article.)

		ODA in U.S. Dollars (Millions)				ODA as GNP Percentage
	Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003
1.	Norway	1,264	1,346	1,746	2,043	0.8	0.83	0.91	0.92
2.	Denmark	1,664	1,599	1,632	1,747	1.06	1.01	0.96	0.84
3.	Netherlands	3,075	3,155	3,377	4,059	0.82	0.82	0.82	0.81
4.	Luxembourg	116	142	143	189	0.7	0.8	0.78	0.8
5.	Sweden	1,813	1,576	1,754	2,100	0.81	0.76	0.74	0.7
6.	Belgium	812	866	1,061	1,887	0.36	0.37	0.42	0.61
7.	Ireland	239	285	397	510	0.3	0.33	0.41	0.41
8.	France	4,221	4,293	5,182	7,337	0.33	0.34	0.36	0.41
9.	Switzerland	888	908	933	1,297	0.34	0.34	0.32	0.38
10.	United Kingdom	4,458	4,659	4,749	6,166	0.31	0.32	0.3	0.34
11.	Finland	371	389	466	556	0.31	0.33	0.35	0.34
12.	Germany	5,034	4,879	5,359	6,694	0.27	0.27	0.27	0.28
13.	Canada	1,722	1,572	2,013	2,209	0.25	0.23	0.28	0.26
14.	Spain	1,321	1,748	1,608	2,030	0.24	0.3	0.25	0.25
15.	Australia	995	852	962	1,237	0.27	0.25	0.25	0.25
16.	New Zealand	116	111	124	169	0.26	0.25	0.23	0.23
17.	Portugal	261	267	282	298	0.26	0.25	0.24	0.21
18.	Greece	216	194	295	356	0.19	0.19	0.22	0.21
19.	Japan	13,062	9,678	9,220	8,911	0.27	0.23	0.23	0.2
20.	Austria	461	457	475	503	0.25	0.25	0.23	0.2
21.	Italy	1,368	1,493	2,313	2,393	0.13	0.14	0.2	0.16
22.	United States	9,581	10,884	12,900	15,791	0.1	0.11	0.12	0.14
Source: OECD Web site

Charles Henderson

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The Rev. Charles P. Henderson is a Presbyterian minister and Executive Director of
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God and Science (Hypertext Edition, 2005).
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