According to the chart I linked earlier, the countries with highest ODA as %GNI are UAE, Norway, Luxembourg, and Sweden, all at around 0.9 %GNI.
Given random variation between countries, we shouldn’t be surprised to find smaller countries on the top of such a list: (i) because there are more small countries than big countries, and (ii) because smaller countries are likely to be more internally homogenous, which means that e.g. the average inclination to give away money among the countries’ population is likely to differ more from the global average.
I guessed that I’d find small countries at the bottom of the list, too. But then I actually looked, and found Thailand, Taiwan, Russia, and Romania on the bottom, two of which are big, and all of which are larger than UAE, Norway, Luxembourg, and Sweden. I don’t know what’s up with that, though part of the explanation might be that a bunch of poor, small countries are grouped as a single big “DAC-countries”-category. Edit: This last sentence is false, see Wei_Dai’s comment (“DAC-countries” are apparently rich countries, rather than poor, and each of them are reported separately in the list). Seems like a lot of poor countries aren’t included in the list at all.
I don’t know what’s up with that, though part of the explanation might be that a bunch of poor, small countries are grouped as a single big “DAC-countries”-category.
No, DAC-countries are reported separately in that chart as well as in aggregate:
The DAC has 24 members: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Given random variation between countries, we shouldn’t be surprised to find smaller countries on the top of such a list: (i) because there are more small countries than big countries, and (ii) because smaller countries are likely to be more internally homogenous, which means that e.g. the average inclination to give away money among the countries’ population is likely to differ more from the global average.
I guessed that I’d find small countries at the bottom of the list, too. But then I actually looked, and found Thailand, Taiwan, Russia, and Romania on the bottom, two of which are big, and all of which are larger than UAE, Norway, Luxembourg, and Sweden. I don’t know what’s up with that, though part of the explanation might be that a bunch of poor, small countries are grouped as a single big “DAC-countries”-category. Edit: This last sentence is false, see Wei_Dai’s comment (“DAC-countries” are apparently rich countries, rather than poor, and each of them are reported separately in the list). Seems like a lot of poor countries aren’t included in the list at all.
No, DAC-countries are reported separately in that chart as well as in aggregate:
BTW, please see my latest comment on this topic if you haven’t already.