Commitment to Development Index 2010

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November 03, 2010

For more information, visit the CDI homepage and Inside the Index.

The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) ranks 22 of the world’s richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. Moving beyond standard comparisons of foreign aid volumes, the CDI quantifies a range of rich country policies that affect poor people in developing countries:

Quantity and quality of foreign aid
Openness to developing-country exports
Policies that encourage investment
Migration policies
Environmental policies
Security policies
Support for creation and dissemination of new technologies

The CDI adjusts for size in order to compare how well countries are living up to their potential to help. For example, the United States gives much more foreign aid than Denmark, but far less for the size of its economy, so Denmark scores higher on this measure. But even the first-place Swedish score only about average in four of the seven policy areas. All countries could do much more to spread prosperity.

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