Foreign aid expenditure in OECD countries (discontinued), 2010

This is the highest level of ODA ever registered. As a share of gross national income (GNI), the preliminary figures for 2010 equal the previous high of 0.32 per cent achieved in 2005.

Long way to go to reach UN’s target

Comparing ODA as a percentage of GNI is often used to measure countries’ expenditure on foreign aid. In 1970, the UN resolved that development aid should account for 0.7 per cent of GNI. Norway, Sweden and Denmark achieved this goal relatively quickly in the 1970s. In 2010, only the three Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Luxembourg achieved the target, and for the DAC countries in total, the UN goal remains a distant one.

USA the largest contributor

The largest donor by volume in 2010 was the USA, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. USA contributed with USD 30.1 billion, or 0.21 per cent of GNI, the same percentage as in 2009. France increased its percentage of GNI used on development assistance from 0.47 in 2009 to 0.50 in 2010, while Germany and Japan showed percentages in 2010 of 0.38 and 0.20 respectively.

Norway contributed with 1.06 per cent of GNI

Norway’s development aid rose to 1.10 per cent of GNI in 2010, up from 1.06 in 2009 and 0.89 in 2008. Measured in US dollars the expenditure used on development aid increased from 4.1 billion to 4.6 billion.

Detailed historic data supplied by DAC members on aid flows are available here .

For more information can also be found at: OECD , NORAD , and Statistic Norway’s Statistical Yearbook .

Tables:

• Table 1 Official development assistance.