American people are very generous. But you still hear comments of how America rates low in its commitment to foreign aid. What’s the real story?

If you look only at the U.S. Government, … the U.S. Government comes in near last among developed nations in terms of foreign aid as a percentage of gross national income … but if you look at American individuals and families and non-governmental organizations, you would see … American people are some of the most generous people in the world.

*Americans (outside government channels) give a higher percentage of their income for aid to underdeveloped countries than citizens in any developed country in the world.

*The U.S.A. (government and non-government combined) leads the world in total financial flow to developing countries- 192-billion (USD) in investments, philanthropy and remittances … and 88% of America’s foreign aid to developing countries comes from non-governmental sources.

* The USA is 6th in the world in terms of foreign aid spent per person if you take into account all private and public sources of financial support.

The statistics above are according to the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Prosperity in their annual report analyzing 2006 data.

America’s $192-billion amounts to about 45% of the entire OECD’s (30 countries forming the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) contributions (public and private) to developing countries.

Those that complain the U.S. Government does not provide enough foreign assistance, must also realize the tremendous generosity of American individuals, churches, foundations, nonprofits, colleges and other organizations.

The model of philanthropy worldwide has changed. The study shows about 88% of America’s aid to developing countries comes from individuals and organizations not affiliated with the U.S. Government. And it’s happening in the U.K. and many other countries.

Government aid worldwide is now a minority participant in the growth and development of poor nations … accounting for less than 25% of the financial aid. Worldwide, in 2006, private financial flows of money accounted for over 75 percent of donor countries’ entire economic dealings with developing countries. In 1990, worldwide government aid to developing countries was larger than private aid. Why such a rapid change? That would be an interesting study. I’m sure many would argue that private efforts are administered more effectively than government efforts.

Sweden, Luxembourg and Norway follow the old model and give about 80% of their assistance through government aid. In terms of total USD value of Government Official Development Assistance, the U.S. Government leads the world with 23.53 billion USD. Rounding out the Top 5 are the U.K. with $12.46 billion, Japan with 11.19 billion, France with 10.60 billion, Germany with 10.44 billion.

In terms of a percentage of Gross National Income, the U.S. Government comes in 21st (0.18%) of the OECD countries, with the governments of Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands and Denmark leading the list … providing 0.80% or more of GNI in ODA assistance.

But any measure of a country’s commitment to foreign aid must look at both government and non-government sources of foreign aid. This measure of both government and non-government financial flows to developing countries may provide the most useful ‘generosity index‘ … the results below:

% of Gross National income sent to developing countries (combining goverment and non-government sources):

Sweden - 1.28% 
Luxembourg - 1.09%
Norway - 1.08%
Netherlands - 1.05%
Denmark - 0.99%
United States - 0.99%
Canada - 0.91%
Spain - 0.88%
Australia - 0.85%
United Kingdom - 0.84%
Ireland - 0.84%
Austria - 0.83%
Switzerland - 0.77%
France - 0.76%
New Zealand - 0.67%
Belgium - 0.66%
Germany - 0.66%
Greece - 0.48%
Finland - 0.44%
Italy - 0.40%
Portugal - 0.36%
Japan - 0.34%