ICAEW chart of the week – International development aid

With recent news focusing on overseas aid for the wrong reasons, we thought it might be interesting to look at the UK’s international development spending in our chart of the week.

In 2016 the UK Government spent £13.4bn on international development and aid programmes. According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK Government met its target of 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) in 2016 by just £6m.

This is a contribution of £204 on behalf of each person living in the UK in 2016, or around £17 per person per month. £8.5bn or £130 per person went to individual countries or regional groupings, with £45 spent via multilateral programmes and £85 directly. The balance of £4.9bn or £74 per person, was spent via international agencies, such as the World Bank’s International Development Association or the EU’s development programmes. 

The UK’s contributions to international aid programmes go on a range of health, humanitarian, environmental and development projects. An example is the £153m (£2.33 per person) for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Whatever your perspective on international development, the UK is a generous nation in its contribution to development programmes and support of humanitarian aid around the world.

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