I was disturbed by what seems like a huge disparity between what the US can give and is actually giving to tsunami damaged countries. I put together a table that contains a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to what that country’s government has recently pledged towards relief efforts, and the percentage of the GDP that that pledge is.
Comparing the donation to GDP isn’t exactly fair considering that GDP doesn’t mean “cash on hand” – it’s more of a country’s “cash producing potential”. But looking at GDP definitely gives you an idea of which countries are wealthy, and which countries aren’t.
Also to consider, the donation amounts are cash. As best I could, I removed any figures that included food and medical supplies or other non-cash contributions (such as sending teams in, or vehicles, etc). I used this Wikipedia Page as well as the CIA World Factbook to build the table. The countries are sorted by percentage of GDP donated in descending order.
| Country | GDP (B) | Donated (M) | Percentage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | $239B | $22M | 0.0092% | |
| Denmark | $167B | $12.79M | 0.0077% | |
| India | $3033B | $183M | 0.0060% | |
| New Zealand | $85B | $5M | 0.0059% | |
| Luxembourg | $25B | $1.3M | 0.0052% | |
| Australia | $571B | $25M | 0.0044% | |
| Kuwait | $41B | $1.7M | 0.0041% | |
| UAE | $57B | $2M | 0.0035% | |
| Canada | $958B | $33M | 0.0034% | |
| Italy | $155B | $3.9M | 0.0025% | |
| Finland | $142B | $3.4M | 0.0024% | |
| Croatia | $47B | $1M | 0.0021% | |
| Saudi Arabia | $287B | $5M | 0.0017% | |
| United Kingdom | $1666B | $29M | 0.0017% | |
| Ireland | $116B | $1.4M | 0.0012% | |
| France | $1661B | $20M | 0.0012% | |
| Germany | $2271B | $26M | 0.0011% | |
| Taiwan | $528B | $5M | 0.0009% | |
| Iceland | $8B | $70K | 0.0009% | |
| Japan | $3582B | $31M | 0.0009% | |
| Austria | $245B | $1.5M | 0.0006% | |
| Netherlands | $461B | $2.7M | 0.0006% | |
| Mozambique | $21B | $0.1M | 0.0005% | 70% citizens below poverty |
| Sweden | $238B | $1.04M | 0.0004% | |
| China | $6449B | $21.63M | 0.0003% | |
| Belgium | $299B | $1M | 0.0003% | |
| Czech Republic | $161B | $500K | 0.0003% | |
| Singapore | $109B | $300K | 0.0003% | |
| Turkey | $458B | $1M | 0.0002% | |
| Greece | $213B | $40K | 0.0000% | |
| United States | $10990B | $19M | 0.0002% | Additional $20M line of credit |
| South Korea | $857B | $1.4M | 0.0002% | |
| Cambodia | $25B | $40K | 0.0002% | |
| Spain | $885B | $1.3M | 0.0001% | $68M Loan |
| Isreal | $120B | $100K | 0.0001% | |
| Poland | $427M | $300K | 0.0001% | |
| Pakistan | $318B | $200K | 0.0001% | |
| Mexico | $941B | $100K | 0.0000% | |
| Hungary | $139B | $0 | 0.0000% |
Most disturbing to me is that some of the wealthiest countries are contributing less, dollar for dollar, than countries far less wealthy.
Also, I keep seeing on the news that Spain is contributing $69M, which isn’t true. Nearly all of that $69M is a loan. Loans are not charity.