Sweden

Aid

Aid quality is just as important as aid quantity, so the CDI measures gross aid as a share of GDP adjusted for various quality factors: it subtracts debt service, penalizes “tied” aid that makes recipients spend aid only on donor goods and services, rewards aid to poor but relatively well-governed recipients, and penalizes overloading poor governments with many small projects.

• Score: 14.9
• Rank: 1

• High net aid volume as a share of the economy (1.11%; rank: 1)
• No tied or partially tied aid (rank: 1)

• Small amount of private charitable giving attributable to tax policy (rank as a share of GDP: 17)

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries.

• Score: 6.5
• Rank: 7

• Low agricultural subsidies (equivalent to a tariff of 8.7% of the value of imports; rank: 6)
• Low tariffs on textiles (6.0% of the value of imports; rank: 3)
• Low tariffs on apparel (6.0% of the value of imports; rank: 3)

Investment

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management and create jobs. The CDI includes a checklist of policies that support healthy investment in developing countries.

• Score: 5.6
• Rank: 9

• Employs foreign tax credits to prevent double taxation of corporate profits earned abroad
• Provides support for outflows of portfolio investment
• Does not impose restrictions on pension fund investments in emerging markets

• Does not screen projects for social impacts through national political risk agency
• Does not allow domestic investors to take advantage of developing country tax incentives

Migration

The movement of people from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. This increases the flow of money sent home by migrants abroad and the transfer of skills when the migrants return.

• Score: 9.2
• Rank: 2

• Bears large share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises (rank: 1)
• Large number of immigrants from developing countries entering Sweden (rank by share of population: 4)
• Large increase during the 1990s in the number of unskilled immigrants from developing countries living in Sweden (rank by share of population: 5)
• No tuition fee for foreign students

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources, and poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration, so the CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries and biodiversity.

• Score: 8.1
• Rank: 2

• Low greenhouse gas emissions rate per capita (2.0 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 1)
• High compliance with mandatory reporting requirements under multilateral environmental agreements relating to biodiversity (rank: 6)
• Low fossil fuel production per capita (0.0 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 1)
• Greenhouse gas emissions grew little in 1999–2009 despite rapid GDP growth (average annual growth rate/GDP, –4.2%; rank: 4)

Security

Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, rewards military protection of global sea lanes, and penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.

• Score: 4.5
• Rank: 13

• High arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments (rank by share of GDP: 18)

Technology

Rich countries contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI captures this by measuring government support for R&D and penalizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries.

• Score: 4.9
• Rank: 13

• High government expenditure on R&D (rank by share of GDP: 6)

• Low tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D (rank: 20)
• Offers patent-like proprietary rights to developers of data compilations, including those assembled from data in the public domain
• Large share of government R&D expenditure on defense (0.8%; rank: 18)
• Pushes to incorporate into bilateral free trade agreements "TRIPS-Plus" measures that restrict the flow of innovations to developing countries