US Spends $35Bln on Aid Programs, But Can You Guess Where the Money Goes?
Oct 31, 2015 sputniknews article
https://sputniknews.com/us/201510311029400431-us-aid-money/
An infographic by HowMuch.net puts into perspective just where US priorities lie in the provision of economic aid to countries around the world. Hint: the largest recipient isn't exactly a destitute country.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. HowMuch.net author Raul Amoros proves that the same is apparently true about some some infographics as well.
https://cdn3.img.sputniknews.com/images/102939/85/1029398509.jpg
With the US providing approximately $35 billion in economic aid to 142 countries around the world in 2014, Amoros explains that his map is meant to show "the relative size of each country…proportionate to the aid received from the United States," with the color of each country indicating GDP per capita, from dark red ($866-$4,999) to blue ($30,000 or more).
As the figures brought to life by the map show, Israel is the only country to receive aid with a GDP of more than $30,000. And it gets a lot — $3.1 billion worth. Poland, Kazakhstan, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay are the only other relatively wealthy countries (with GDP per capita of between $20,000-30,000) to receive US economic assistance, getting more modest sums, ranging from $500,000 (Argentina and Uruguay) to $16 million (Poland).
Along with Israel, which received roughly 9% of total US economic aid in 2014, other countries to make the top five include Egypt ($1.5 billion), Afghanistan ($1.1 billion), Jordan ($1 billion), and Pakistan ($933 million).
Amoros also discovered, looking at the US State Department report explaining the US's 2013-2015 foreign aid program, that the entirety of Israel's $3.1 billion in funding was used for military purposes. In Egypt, similarly, a whopping $1.3 of the $1.5 billion total was also used for military-related activities.
In fact, according to the State Department, a full 17%, or $5.9 billion of all US government aid was used to finance foreign military spending, with 24% ($8.4 billion) used toward global health programs, $4.6 billion (13%) for economic assistance, and $2.5 billion (7%) for development assistance.