Foreign aid: shortfall reaches $3.6 trillion; greater than aid given

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This article serves as a side note to the main article: Foreign Aid for Development Assistance. Please refer to that more in-depth section for additional details around aid, its quality, what constitutes aid, etc.

As detailed on the main foreign aid section:

In 1970, rich countries of the OECD agreed at the United Nations (Resolution 2626) to give 0.7% of their GNP (now GNI) as aid to the developing countries.Known as ODA, this aid would be for long-term development. Side NoteIt does not include private donations and investment as these are not always predictable or used specifically for long-term development of entire economies, though their contributions can also be large.Almost 40 years on, most of the 20 or so rich OECD countries have never reached that figure, or come close.

Annually, the global foreign aid shortfall is high.

Although rich countries have given an enormous $2.98 trillion dollars in aid since 1970, the accumulated total shortfall in their aid since 1970 (when the target of 0.7% was set) amounts to $4.01 trillion (at 2008 prices).

The remainder of this page presents a breakdown of those figures.

This web page has the following sub-sections:

Shortfall of ODA since 1970 totals over $4.01 trillionGap between the 0.7% target and actual ODA growingShortfall is more than what has been given so farThe shortfall is potentially higher as aid now includes non-aid itemsPercentage of existing aid to Sub-Saharan AfricaShortfall of ODA since 1970 totals over $4.01 trillion

Put bluntly, the rich owe the poor a lot of money, similar to the amount of total third world debt:

Back to topGap between the 0.7% target and actual ODA growing

Averaging data between the decades of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the shortfall in aid seems to be increasing:

Back to topShortfall is more than what has been given so far

The total ODA delivered so far has been less than half of the agreed targets:

With total official foreign aid since 1970 (when the 0.7% target was set) being just over $2.98 trillion, less than half of what has been promised has been delivered:

And considering the last 10 years only, 2000-2009, the shortfall percentage has been even higher:

Back to topThe shortfall is potentially higher as aid now includes non-aid items

The shortfall is potentially even higher, given that (as detailed in the main foreign aid section) in recent years official aid has

Included items that it is not meant to, andDoes not always go to the poorest countries, but instead to those of most strategic interest to the donor.

This increase has been noted since the 1990s:

Back to topPercentage of existing aid to Sub-Saharan Africa

One can argue or expect that most aid would go to the poorest countries, mostly in Africa. However, this is not historically the case (though there are signs that public pressure and the Millennium Development Goals of 2015 to half poverty may encourage better aid quantity and quality).

Since 1970, on average, Sub-Saharan Africa has received about 25% of actual ODA:

(Although OECD data does go back to 1960, it was in 1970 when nations agreed to the 0.7% figure. In the 1960s, aid was around 0.5% and there was a belief that it could easily be increased in coming years and reach 0.7% in the mid-1970s.)

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