Aid

Aid remains an important source of foreign finance for many countries. The CDI takes account of both aid quantity through their share of national income given as ODA; and of aid quality through their scores in the Quality of Official Development Assistance – QuODA exercise.

Norway’s aid performance

• Rank: 5

Strengths

• High aid volume as a share of the economy
• Providing timely and comparative information about aid spending
• Membership in the International Aid Transparency Initiative
• Strong commitment to evaluation and learning

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. It also penalizes costly importation processes and restrictions against purchasing services from foreigners.

Norway’s trade performance

• Rank: 25

Strengths

• Low tariffs on textile
• Low tariffs on clothing
• Few documents required for importation 

• High tariffs on agricultural products
• High tariffs on wheat
• High tariffs on beef
• High tariffs on other meats
• High tariffs on dairy
• Many limitations on the importation of services

Finance

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can promote economic growth, help spread technologies, skills, and create jobs. Conversely, policies that permit secrecy can facilitate illicit activities and financial flows abroad. The CDI rewards policies that support healthy investment in developing countries and promote transparency in financial transactions at home as well as globally.

Norway’s finance performance

• Rank: 5

Strengths

• Political risk insurance agency provides wide coverage and screens potential projects for violations of human, labor and environmental rights
• Active participation and leadership in extractive industries transparency initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Kimberley Process on blood diamonds
• Scores above average in the Financial Secrecy Index for regulations in place to promote transparent financial transactions within its jurisdiction
• Provides assistance to companies looking for investment opportunities in developing countries
• Vigorous prosecution of home-country bribe payers

Migration

Allowing people to move from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. It also increases the flow of money migrants send and the transfer of skills when the migrants return. The CDI also rewards countries for enabling students from developing countries to study at their universities, and for sharing the burden of refugees and asylum seekers. 

Norway’s migration performance

• Rank: 2

Strengths

• Large number of immigrants from developing countries entering Norway
• Bears large share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises 

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources while poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration. The CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries, and biodiversity, all of which affect the lives of those far beyond one country’s borders. 

Norway’s environment performance

• Rank: 24

Strengths

• Good compliance with mandatory reporting requirements under multilateral environmental agreements relating to biodiversity
• Low greenhouse gas emissions

Weaknesses

• High fossil fuel production rate per capita
• Low gas taxes

Security

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

Norway’s security performance

• Rank: 1

Strengths

• Significant personnel and financial contributions to UN and internationally-sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions
• Participates in major international security treaties and regimes

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.

Norway’s technology performance

• Rank: 9

Strengths

• Significant government support for R&D
• Provides patent exceptions for research purposes

• Offers patent-like proprietary rights to developers of data compilations, including those assembled from data in the public domain
• Allows patents on plant and animal varieties
• Pushes to extend intellectual property rights in bilateral trade treaties (“TRIPS Plus” measures) that restrict the flow of innovations to developing countries