Official Development Assistance (ODA)
Facts and Figures

At the Monterrey Financing for Development Conference in 2002, world leaders pledged “ to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7%” of their GNP in international aid. In today's dollars, that would amount to almost $200 billion each year.

In 2003, total aid from the 22 richest countries to the world's developing countries was just $69 billion —a shortfall of $130 billion dollars from the 0.7% promise. On average, the world's richest countries provided just 0.25% of their GNP in official development assistance (ODA).

The cost of supporting countries to meet the Goals would require donors to increase ODA to 0.44% of GNP by 2006 (or $135 billion) and to plan for a scale-up to 0.54% by 2015 (or $195 billion) – well within the bounds of the 0.7% promised in Monterrey. This means that of the combined rich world GNP of approximately $30 trillion dollars, on average just $150 billion a year would be enough to get the world on track to ending extreme poverty throughout the world.

Five countries have already met or surpassed the 0.7% target: Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Six other countries have committed themselves to a timeline to reach this target before 2015: Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. In 2003, donor aid flows varied considerably:

Official Development Assistance in 2004
(source: OECD/DAC 2004)

(*) Indicates countries that have NOT set a timetable for 0.7%.

Better aid is needed, not just more aid. Both the quantity and the quality of development assistance need to increase. Currently, aid is unpredictable, driven by donor objectives, and tied to contractors from donor countries. In low-income countries, only about 24% of bilateral aid actually finances investments on the ground.

Public perceptions reflect support for higher levels of aid. When asked what percentage of the federal budget they think goes to foreign aid, Americans' median estimate is 25% of the budget , more than 25 times the actual level . Only 2% of Americans give a correct estimate of 1% of the budget or less. When asked how much of the budget should go to foreign aid, the median response is 10%. Only 13% of Americans believe that the percentage should be 1% or less. Over 60% of Americans believe that contributing 0.7% of GNP to meet the Millennium Development Goals is the right thing to do.