Rich spend 25 times more on defence than aid
UN shows how the west, especially Britain and America, have put military
spending way ahead of help for Africa
Larry Elliott, economics editor
Wednesday July 6, 2005
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/250948.html
Rich western countries spend up to 25 times as much on defence as they do
on overseas aid and have increased their assistance to the poorest
African countries by just $3 (£1.70) a head since 1990, according to
United Nations figures.
Research to be unveiled in the UN's human development report later this
year shows that every country in western Europe and North America has a
bigger military budget than overseas development budget, with the biggest
disparities in the United States and Britain.
Although the UK has increased its aid budget in recent years, the UN data
reveals that for every £1 spent on development, £8 is spent on defence.
In the United States, 1% -one cent in every dollar - goes on aid compared
to the 25% of the budget that is spent by the Pentagon.
The figures emerged as development campaigners step-ped up their pressure
on the G8 to deliver an immediate $50bn increase in aid at its summit
starting today.
"G8 leaders are hiding behind each other and are stuck in a swamp of
inertia", said Jo Leadbeater, head of advocacy at Oxfam. "We need to see
leadership from countries such as Canada in order to get a breakthrough
on aid. If this doesn't happen, the UN's plan to halve world poverty by
2015 lies in tatters. This is the first time in history that the text of
the final G8 communique has been up for grabs this late in the game.
There's still a lot to play for, but so far no sign of the breakthrough
that people all over the world are demanding."
War on Want said the deal on offer this week would provide only 20% of
the extra aid needed for Africa.
John Hilary, director of campaigns and policy, said: "The paltry deal on
the table at Gleneagles is an insult to poor people the world over. G8
governments have failed to listen to the 225,000 protesters who came out
on to the streets of Edinburgh to call for a response to the crisis of
global poverty. If this is the best they can come up with, the G8 clearly
has nothing to offer the world's poor."
Defence spending in both the US and the UK has increased in recent years
as a result of the war in Iraq, taking the total in the G7 (the US, the
UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada) to more than $660bn a year
- 10 times the spending on aid in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
poor countries of Europe.
The UN figures show that while Germany and Italy cut defence spending in
the four years from 2000 to 2004 and France held it steady, spending on
defence in the UK rose by $92 per head to $790 (£450) a year. In the US,
there was a sharper increase of $379 per head to $1,549.
The spending on defence contrasted with separate UN figures showing how
little of the increase in prosperity seen in the west since 1990 has
found its way to sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 1990, according to the UN figures, per capita increases in the G7
nations have averaged $5,770.
The US has enjoyed the biggest increase in per capita incomes - from just
over $30,000 a year to just over $37,500 a year - while recession-
affected Japan has seen the smallest increase of $3,400 a year. Over the
same period, the UN figures show that spending per head among G7
countries on sub-Saharan Africa has risen by $3 - from $13 a year in 1990
to $16 a year in 2003. In three of the G7 countries - France, Japan and
Canada - spending on sub-Saharan Africa is lower now than it was in 1990,
the year the UN launched its annual human development report.
Britain's spending on aid to sub-Saharan Africa has doubled between 1990
and 2003 - from $11 to $22 per head - but that represents around one 40th
of what the government spends on defence.
France, despite cutting its per capita spending on Africa by $11 since
1990, remains the most generous of the G7 countries, providing $41 a head
in 2003. Britain was the second most generous at $22.
--
Jez, MBA.,
Country Dancing and Advanced Astrology, UBS.
'Realism is seductive because once you have accepted the reasonable
notion that you should base your actions on reality, you are too often
led to accept, without much questioning, someone else's version of what
that reality is. It is a crucial act of independent thinking to be
skeptical of someone else's description of reality.'-
Howard Zinn
.
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