| Measuring
Aid |
 |
How is Aid Measured?
As we said, all of the DAC nations have a common way of accounting
for the money that they give in aid each year. This helps
us to compare how much money different countries give. Also,
we can see what kind of programmes countries give money to.
There are two ways at looking at how much aid money countries
give:
Aid in Terms of Net Money Given
One way to look at aid is by simply looking at how much money
nations give in aid money every year. By this measure, the
United States gave the second-largest amount in aid in 2000,
at 9.95 billion dollars:
Aid in Terms of GNI/GNP Ratio
Another way of looking at levels of aid is by seeing how
much money nations give as a percentage of their Gross National
Income (GNI). GNI is another name for the Gross National Product
(GNP). GNI or GNP is basically a measure of how much money
a country makes both within its own borders and through its
companies around the world.
It is common to measure ODA in terms of GNI/GNP because it
is useful to see what proportion of their income developed
countries are giving to developing countries. To use the United
States as an example again, while they may donate the second-largest
amount in terms of actual money given, in terms of their GNI/GNP
they only give 0.1% (one-thousandth) of what they make. This
puts them last in terms of the proportion of their income
that they give in aid. |
