2010 Commitment To Development Index (PHOTOS)

Sweden is rated as the most overall philanthropic nation on the planet, according to a new report.

Prepared by the Center For Global Development, the 2010 Commitment to Development Index examined how 22 "rich country" governments are contributing to poorer countries. Each year, researchers examine what they call seven "key linkages" the benefactor has with less-developed nations: aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security, and technology. The scores are then adjusted accordingly in relation to a nation's size, with a score of 5.0 considered average.

With a score of 7.0, Sweden easily topped the 22-nation chart over runners-up Denmark (6.8) and the Netherlands (6.7). The U.S. fared just above average, with a score of 5.4, while Japan (3.3) and South Korea (3.1) were deemed to have the most room for improvement.

See the full report here.

See photos, along with the rating for each of the 22 nations, here:

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Sweden

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Commitment To Development 2010

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Comments

[ander35]

05:38 PM on 11/15/2010

Horse doo doo show the amounts that each country gives.

[NonPrawf]

11:23 PM on 11/14/2010

USA should be #1
USA! USA! USA! USA!

[FOXYROSE]

10:23 AM on 11/13/2010

I don't believe this study - we give in food, medicine and money and infastructure. We are also the police for the rest of the world - w/o us they would have to spend a hell of a lot more on military.

[DanSc]

09:04 PM on 11/11/2010

Were actions such as sending a U.S. Navy hospital ship to Haiti considered in these rankings? The other country's governments may give a greater percentage of GDP in just cash, but the U.S. is usually quite good in donating infrastructure and manpower after disasters.

And no, I don't mean aggressive military actions. I know someone will respond about Iraq, Bosnia, Grenada, Panama, etc., but I mean humanitarian actions like the airlift to Haiti.

[Marc NL]

10:07 PM on 11/11/2010

What makes you think that other countries do not help out in away they can?
I remember seeing lots of international dog rescue teams. (for example)
In my home country they had a massive media effort and raised EUR 83.4 million. Not bad for a country with only 16 mil. people.

I said something similar earlier in this thread but it seems that some people in the U.S think that only the U.S can truly care and be generous.

According to you other governments just hand out cash...

It would be perfectly ok to accept other peoples generosity too you know?
In fact it would be very generous of some Americans to acknowledge that other countries are also willing to help and can even be more generous.

[DanSc]

10:44 PM on 11/11/2010

Your country should be commended for it's generosity, and many nations can contribute smaller non-monetary physical assets such as rescue teams, but the U.S. is alone in how much manpower and infrastructure (especially sea-based) it is willing to devote to humanitarian crises, especially Haiti and the Indian Ocean tsunami. My question was if these rankings accounted for manpower and infrastructure donations as well as cash donations, not suggesting that smaller countries with an extremely high income-per-household only contribute cash

[darcdante]

12:38 PM on 11/11/2010

They only looked at Governments and not individuals? Why? What does that conclude about anything?

[darcdante]

12:46 PM on 11/11/2010

"Americans are the most generous people in the world, measured by charitable giving as a percent of GDP. Americans give twice as much (1.67% of GDP) as the next most charitable country, the U.K. at 0.73%, according to this study by the Charities Aid Foundation (chart above is taken from the study). Americans give almost 12 times as much as the French and almost 8 times as much as the Germans. In fact, Americans give more as a percent of GDP than France, Germany, Turkey, New Zealand, Singapore and the Netherlands COMBINED!"

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/06/americans-are-most-generous-people-in.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_charitable_countries

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the countries giving the highest amounts of money (in absolute terms) are as follows:
1. United States - $28.67 billion
2. France - $12.43 billion

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/08/11-most-generous-countrie_n_709950.html#s136626

"Australia and New Zealand shared first place, and the United States tied for fifth, in a first-of-its kind survey ranking 153 nations on the willingness of their citizens to donate time and money to charity."

So quit bad mouthing my country. Again, WHY did they not look at private citizens and charities? The facts are certainly different if you bother to do so.

[Marc NL]

01:43 PM on 11/11/2010

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the countries giving the highest amounts of money (in absolute terms)

Do you know what "absolute terms" mean?
Let me again illustrate the difference between relative and absolute.

the united states have 300 million people. The Netherlands 16 million. If we do some basic math. The Netherlands would have donated 120.56 billion vs the U.S with $28.67 billion with the same amount of people.

or: Girl scout Doris Schutt has 300 cookies in her basket and gives away 4.
Girl scout Gene Poole has 4 cookies in her basket and she gives away 3.

Who is more Generous?

The First link is 5 years old.
All this is getting silly. Using absolute numbers as part of the argument is crazy, The U.S is the third largest country in the world!

You could also have said well done Sweden...

[mlm4420]

11:31 AM on 11/11/2010

No surprise that Israel is not on the list.

[The Upper East Side]

12:22 PM on 11/11/2010

why should they give anything to the majority of nations in need? Those countries hate them!

[nothingchanges]

10:18 AM on 11/11/2010

Where's China?

[Greg2000]

12:52 AM on 11/11/2010

We're falling behind in every G%*damn thing.

[Marc NL]

07:30 AM on 11/11/2010

I think in today's world it has become easier to fact check. Information is more accessible and there for easier for people to find out the truth for them self. Nothing has really changed all that much just the information is now available for everyone.

My Whole point is still the U.S is still a great country. I live in it and love it. I was born and raised in Holland and that is also a great wonderful country. Many countries have good and bad things. There is always room for improvement but if you do not know the facts and be honest about you can not move forward.

Love the U.S or any other country for what it is. Don't base it on fantasies. (just my opinion)

[Estrogenx]

07:50 PM on 11/10/2010

If not measured in the terms they picked for this, certainly the US has to be up there with Canada as far as always, consistently one of the first to respond, send aid/food/relief while the others scramble. The spirit of generosity should weight into this study.

[Marc NL]

10:02 PM on 11/10/2010

And how do you know that other countries do not rush to help other countries?
The U.S does do good work is generous and helpful etc. I just don't understand your assumption that other countries don't do the same.

The U.S media may not cover international aid much, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

"The spirit of generosity should weight into this study"
Again, other countries are unable to care? I may be misunderstanding you but reading between the lines it sound like you think the U.S is more empathetic than everyone else.

[LMPE]

07:36 PM on 11/10/2010

We're #17!

Oh well. At least we're ahead of someone...

[Progressneeded]

09:58 PM on 11/10/2010

Yes! Ahead of all the poor and war devastated nations

[Greg2000]

12:47 AM on 11/11/2010

We're great because we're better than Haiti.

[JJovana]

03:33 PM on 11/10/2010

Most socially liberal countries are the most generous :)...then again Jesus was a hippie liberal democrat, so it makes sense :)

[Cannonball Taffy O Jones]

10:10 PM on 11/10/2010

Was he?
 
I don’t remember much talk about Democracy in the New Testament.

[JJovana]

11:04 PM on 11/10/2010

Dont be a smarta$$, you know exactly the point im trying to make.

[Hirnlego]

01:54 AM on 11/11/2010

I cannot imagine Jesus asking people if they have health insurance before healing them.

[moonlightesq]

10:44 PM on 11/10/2010

I don't remember either!

[sensimilla]

02:47 PM on 11/10/2010

nice to see the US at the top of the list..er...wait we're not? We must not have threatened the Center For Global Development enough or took over their board.

[westakhen]

02:26 PM on 11/10/2010

aid or restitution?

after what france did to haiti, can any money they give to haiti be called aid?

[Greg2000]

12:48 AM on 11/11/2010

That's the $25 Bill question!

[climbing panda]

02:09 PM on 11/10/2010

i am willing to bet that the bill and melinda gates foundation completely eclipses sweden's philanthropy. the point being that private entities are better at philanthropy than governments.

[Marc NL]

02:23 PM on 11/10/2010

Yet again, you seem not to understand relative numbers and percentages.
Sweden relative to it's size is more generous. The U.S and the people that live in it give more overall but come out looking cheap if you compare it to countries that are much much smaller..

it's more generous to give half of what you half then only a fraction, even if that fraction is more because you have so much more to give. Does any of this make sense to you?

[climbing panda]

02:35 PM on 11/10/2010

uh, take whatever number the bill and melinda gates foundation does and divide by 2 (really it would be 1 since the foundation is an entity unto itself).

then take sweden's philanthropy and divide by 9.2 million.

compare the results and even on a per capita basis the private entity wins.

[dhinds]

10:23 PM on 11/10/2010

The resources financing the Gates Foundation's activities were not ethically obtained, IMO; and (at least) some of the projects it promotes are of questionable benefit for the target population.

[climbing panda]

01:11 PM on 11/11/2010

because the funds were collected from some of the world's wealthiest men and women who, in your opinion, stole that money from, who exactly? in other words, no matter what these wealthy captains of industry do they will always be evil, in your opinion.

[Marc NL]

01:59 PM on 11/10/2010

Some people from the U.S always act like sore losers when they are not number 1.
Personally I think it would be better to love anything based on facts and truths. Rather then lies and misinformation.

The U.S is great in many things, just not all things.