Weekly Bulletin is. 42, 1996

Decline in foreign aid spending by OECD countries

Preliminary OECD figures show that public spending on development assistance in 1995 totalled about $58.9 billion, down from $59.1 billion the year before. For the OECD as a whole spending totalled 0.27 per cent of the member countries' combined Gross Domestic Product. This is the lowest percentage since 1970. The main reason for the decline is the major reduction in foreign aid provided by Italy and the United States.

Spending on development aid as a percentage of GDP is the most common international basis of comparison. In 1970 the UN adopted the goal that countries providing development assistance were to give 0.7 per cent of GDP. The Scandinavian countries reached the goal in the 1970s. In 1995, only Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands met the goal. For the OECD as a whole the share was 0.27 per cent in 1995, against 0.3 per cent in 1994. This is the lowest share since 1970.

New Statistics

Foreign aid spending. Preliminary OECD figures, 1995.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Statistical Yearbook. More information: Bjørn Astad, tel. +47 21 09 45 14, e-mail: bas@ssb.no or Jan Gerhard Rødal, tel. +47 21 09 45 24, e-mail: jgr@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin is. 42, 1996