Foreign aid expenditure in OECD countries (discontinued), 2001

The level of development aid is usually measured as a percentage of gross national income (GNI), and is often used to compare countries expenditure on foreign aid. In 1970 the UN resolved that development aid should account for 0.7 of GNI. Norway, Sweden and Denmark achieved this target relatively quickly in the 1970s. In 2001, only the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Luxembourg met the target.

Slight decline in development aid

15 of 22 OECD countries had an increase in their development aid in 2001, but for the OECD as a whole, the percentage of GNI was the same in 2001 as in 2000: 0.22. Measured in dollars (USD), the OECD-countries had a decline in development aid at USD 1.4 billion or 2.6 per cent. In real terms, corrected for price changes, there was a small increase at 0.5 per cent.

USA the biggest contributor

With USD 11.5 billion, USA was the biggest contributor of all the OECD countries in 2001, while Japan contributed the most the previous eight years. US expenditure on development aid was 0.11 per cent of GNI in 2001, and this was the lowest level of the OECD countries.

Japan had the biggest decrease from 2000 to 2001, with 17 per cent, from 13.5 billion to 9.8 billion. This country had an exceptional increase in the expenditure on development aid in 1999 in the wake of the Asian financial crises, but in 2001 the Japanese aid was back at 0.23 per cent of GNI.

Norway gave more assistance to development countries

Norways development aid was 0.83 per cent of GNI in 2001, while the percentage in 2000 was 0.80 of GNI. The expenditure on development aid increased by 0. billion to 1,3 billion in 2001, and this was an increase of 7 per cent.

Among the OECD countries only Denmark have a higher assistance rate, with 1.03 per cent of GNI in 2001.

Tables:

• Table 1 Official development assistance