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America The "Stingy'? Hardly.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
Byline: BRUCE BARTLETT
The other day, a United Nations official accused the U.S. of being "stingy" in terms of aid to tsunami victims in South Asia.
After criticism from the State Department, the official clarified his position. Americans aren't being stingy in helping tsunami victims, only stingy in terms of overall foreign aid compared with other countries.
This is a familiar attack. It comes up annually when the foreign aid appropriations bill is before Congress. But let's look at the facts.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2003 the world's major countries gave $108.5 billion in foreign aid. Of this, the U.S. gave $37.8 billion, or 35% of the total. The next largest giver was the Netherlands, which gave $12.2 billion, following two years in which it was actually a net recipient of foreign aid.
The claim of stinginess, however, comes from a different calculation -- foreign aid as a share of national income.
In 2003, U.S. foreign aid came to just 0.34%, well below the world-leading Dutch at 2.44%. Other big givers were Ireland (1.83%), Norway (1.49%) and Switzerland (1.09%). The U.S. would have to triple its aid just to reach the lowest of these contributors.
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