Socio-Economic Parameters of Aid Activities of the EU Emerging Donors

Abstract

This article focuses on the development assistance provided by eight European Union countries, which are not part of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). These are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Romania. A comparison is made between the performance data relating to these countries and that of the following 3 groups: a) the Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia (countries that have joined the DAC in recent years), b) so-called old EU members (EU15) and the so-called new members (EU13), c) the aggregate assistance offered by the EU countries and institutions represented on the Committee. By an analysis of OECD and World Bank statistics, we can see that ODA expenditure in absolute fi gures is primarily determined by a country’s GNI, and not by its relative wealth (GDP per capita) or quality of life (HDI score). This also applies to bilateral aid. However, the level of GDP per capita, and the HDI scores do have some effect on the percentage of GNI devoted to development aid.