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Highest Foreign Aid Recipients

Name the countries that receive the most net foreign aid from governments of other countries.
For the year 2021. Source.
Development assistance only, not military assistance
Quiz by relessness
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Last updated: August 14, 2023
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First submittedJune 19, 2013
Times taken38,592
Average score71.4%
Rating4.53
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Net $
Country
9.69 bil
Syria
8.24 bil
Egypt
5.04 bil
Bangladesh
4.66 bil
Afghanistan
3.98 bil
Ethiopia
3.87 bil
Yemen
3.77 bil
Sudan
3.54 bil
D.R. Congo
Net $
Country
3.44 bil
Jordan
3.36 bil
Nigeria
3.14 bil
Kenya
3.12 bil
India
2.70 bil
Pakistan
2.57 bil
Tanzania
2.52 bil
Uganda
Net $
Country
2.40 bil
Somalia
2.25 bil
Mozambique
2.21 bil
Ukraine
2.16 bil
Palestine
2.11 bil
South Sudan
1.91 bil
Colombia
1.81 bil
Iraq
+2
Level 82
Oct 12, 2013
missed China and Tanzania.
+6
Level 82
Oct 12, 2013
really strange China is a leading aid recipient... 2nd largest economy in the world and growing rapidly, loaning enormous amounts of money to other countries like the US, investing enormous amounts of money all over the world, doesn't have enough money to spare to crack the top givers list and in fact they need aid? weird. Though I know there are still millions of Chinese living below the poverty line.
+13
Level ∞
Nov 3, 2015
China is off the list now, although they still receive significant assistance. I imagine at some point they will switch from a recipient to a donor country. But for now, even though they have a huge economy, they are still a middle income country.
+12
Level ∞
Aug 14, 2023
Update. China is no longer a net-recipient of foreign aid.
+1
Level 55
Sep 1, 2023
Interesting! And now that India has had a successful moon landing perhaps they will follow suit soon. Great quiz.
+4
Level 85
Nov 3, 2015
No credit for "Congo"? I wish all you quiz-makers could agree on one set of rules.
+1
Level 74
Nov 3, 2015
Agreed. Please accept Congo.
+14
Level ∞
Nov 4, 2015
This was my fault. By the way, there is an "official" set of type-ins for every country. I just forgot to apply them.
+1
Level 65
Nov 5, 2015
Random question, cpg: how come when I click on your page, nothing shows up? People with no quizzes normally don't have a link (like Arp2600 down there).
+2
Level 47
Feb 1, 2016
Maybe he had a quiz, but it was deleted?
+1
Level 65
Mar 16, 2016
Ah, good point. I looked him up on the "all users" list and it claims he has one, so he must've deleted it.
+2
Level 82
Mar 15, 2016
On my "answers are countries" quizzes that have ended up featured you will find a few more type-ins than on most quizzes here... for example I always accept "KSA" for Saudi Arabia, "DPRK" for North Korea, and "ROK" for South Korea. I think usually "ROC" for Taiwan, and "PRC" for China, as well. But the first few are probably because I've lived in Saudi and Korea before and got used to using these acronyms myself.
+1
Level 82
Aug 30, 2020
so..... you haven't taken that many quizzes, then? Welcome to the site. Very topical and timely response, too, as I left the KSA 6 years ago, this comment was made 4 years ago, and Dan started accepting KSA for Saudi Arabia about 2 years ago. Way to stay on top of things.
+3
Level 59
Aug 31, 2020
Oh I never realized KSA started being accepted! I guess I didn't ever try it... Well that's cool anyway.
+1
Level 60
Aug 14, 2023
That's funny since all of those now work.
+3
Level 65
Mar 19, 2016
There are 2 Congos: the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo. Officially, Congo, refers to the latter not the former.
+5
Level 82
Jan 31, 2018
Officially? Who is officiating the informal use of country short names?
+11
Level 59
Jan 31, 2018
Dan
+4
Level 76
Nov 4, 2015
What is meant by "Name the countries that receive the most foreign aid from governments of other countries." I don't understand; other than what?
+17
Level 86
Nov 4, 2015
Other than themselves...
+1
Level 84
Nov 5, 2015
Ha ha, this.
+3
Level 77
Nov 5, 2015
This felt like an anti-America gotcha comment...SQUASHED by Arp!
+1
Level 65
Nov 5, 2015
+1
+1
Level 86
Nov 6, 2015
Oh ok, didn't think of that. Anyway, given the figures, I don't think this quiz excludes the US.
+14
Level 76
Jan 13, 2018
What??? There are some paranoid Americans on this site, seeing criticism where is none. My point was that there is redundancy here: "foreign" aid is only able, by definition, to come from governments of other countries.
+1
Level 68
Aug 30, 2020
I understand you Jerry. Literary redundancy.
+7
Level 74
Nov 20, 2017
Other than NGOs like Red Cross, MSF, UNICEF etc
+1
Level 60
Aug 14, 2023
Those wouldn't be countries though.
+1
Level 93
Aug 15, 2023
and NGOs don't tend to have governments
+11
Level 79
Nov 16, 2015
I thought Israel would have been on the list.
+8
Level 74
Mar 8, 2016
This surprised me too, Israel receives about $3bn annually from the USA. Maybe it's not counted because it's technically a loan?
+2
Level 56
Mar 15, 2016
Somehow Palestine is on the list with 2.44 billion.
+12
Level ∞
Mar 15, 2016
The source data only considered development assistance, not military assistance. I added a caveat.
+4
Level 76
Jan 13, 2018
Here's the military assistance quiz re the US - still trying to locate similar data from Russia and Saudi Arabia for some balance, but google searching is getting nowhere.
+1
Level 60
Aug 14, 2023
Israel makes it now.
+1
Level 65
Feb 1, 2016
Odd...comments from before the quiz was made.
+7
Level 47
Feb 1, 2016
The date is when the quiz was last updated, not when it was created.
+1
Level 61
Mar 15, 2016
Forgot Iraq. Turkey surprised me though.
+3
Level 48
Mar 15, 2016
Israel should be on this list
+2
Level 59
Jan 31, 2018
The difference being....
+3
Level 78
Mar 15, 2016
There is more here than a "grain of salt " compromise of truth. First of all, the quiz does not define aid, and as someone associated with this for some years, that is far from easy. Do we consider food aid the same as military? Are transfers counted the same as credits (often with tight strings attached)? How do we include salaries and benefits to foreign administrators (i.e. money that never leaves the donor country, but is often counted as "aid")? And Israel is strangely absent from the list. This quiz is misleading and should be dumped.
+4
Level 50
Mar 15, 2016
Why is Turkey receiving foreign aid?
+3
Level ∞
Jan 12, 2018
Oddly they also appear on the list of donor countries. But this is "net" aid, so they are receiving more than they are donating.
+3
Level 82
Jan 22, 2018
There are many very poor parts of the country, though nowadays I guess they get most of the money to keep Syrians in Turkey.
+4
Level 27
Mar 15, 2016
The aid isn't doing any good. Most of these countries are still very poor
+16
Level 82
Mar 16, 2016
Not true. In 1800 the global average child mortality rate was 43.3%. In the 1950s it was 19.5%. In 1990 it was 7.4%. In 2013 it was under 4%. This is just one metric. But in pretty much all ways life around the world and the global economic situation continues to improve. Thanks, Obama!
+3
Level 60
Mar 17, 2016
There's also the other factor, which is that "development assistance" isn't just about raising people out of poverty, it's often investment by the government giving the aid to open up new markets or expand existing ones for its home companies - hence why some relatively rich countries with large economies (India, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria) appear on this list.
+5
Level ∞
Mar 17, 2016
I think most economists would argue that trade, not development assistance, is the primary explanation for the rise in standard of living in the third world.
+10
Level 82
Jan 31, 2018
I wasn't arguing that developmental assistance is the *primary* explanation for the rise of global wages and living conditions, just against the idea that it does no good and that situations have not improved.
+5
Level 62
Jan 12, 2018
I find it quite ironic that Syria is #1. The West invades and bombs them to try to overthrow their democratically elected president, and when the regime change doesn't work we just throw money at Syria and tell them to clean themselves up?
+26
Level 82
Jan 12, 2018
Democratically elected government? Assad inherited the position from his dictator father. There may be elections in the Robert Mugabe mold, but it's a bit of a stretch to call him democratically elected.
+9
Level 82
Feb 11, 2018
^this. and also... when did the West invade Syria? You are so confused about so many things.
+1
Level 72
Jan 13, 2018
This one is tougher than the donors quiz. Turkey surprised me.
+1
Level 77
Jan 26, 2018
Me too. Right in the middle of both donors and recipients. Why not just keep the money for your own people?
+1
Level 70
Aug 31, 2023
Giving foreign aid is a great way to build soft power.
+2
Level 45
Jan 31, 2018
India annoys me. Give them aid & they develop a space programme
+9
Level 59
Jan 31, 2018
As an Indian I am ashamed that India is on the list.

We hope that we'll be out of this list in quick time.

Humbly request you to compare costs of our space programs with 'others'.

Some of us are reasonably well educated, all our scientists need not run around building toilets.

We will start contributing to world development in 30 to 50 years time.

Wish us luck!

+10
Level 62
Aug 30, 2020
You needn't be ashamed of anything. The ones who need to be ashamed are the colonizers.
+2
Level 66
Mar 2, 2023
Seems like I'd be pretty happy to meet a colonizer who increased the standard of living in my country, provided advanced technology and knowledge, etc., then left willing.

I don't think they were on a path to land on the moon, develop vaccines, fertilizers, industry, etc. anytime soon on their own.

+3
Level 76
Aug 15, 2023
Blaming the British for every single problem that India has is stupid considering it has been almost 80 years since we left and since other countries that were colonised are doing much better, but saying that the British increased the standard of living in India is sooooo wrong it's not even funny. Read "An era of darkness" by Shashi Tharoor if you actually want to see a point of view besides "we brought them the railway!". Even if you think he goes over the top at times (I do), I think it'd be impossible to read it and come to the conclusion that we made life better for Indians.
+1
Level 57
Aug 30, 2020
exactly
+2
Level 59
Aug 31, 2020
I agree, there's no need to be ashamed, but also I see very few people who are currently colonizers. Maaaybe France because they still have many territories, but probably not.
+8
Level 62
Aug 30, 2020
Not that I support india being here , but with the British having looted $45 trillion from India and oppressed Indians for over 300 years , the British ought to pay back.
+5
Level 61
Aug 30, 2020
Nope. No apologies are necessary. Look up "conquered".
+1
Level 79
Aug 19, 2023
Who asked for an apology? Are you fascist? The British didn't "conquer" India, they colonized it. Look up "colonized."
+1
Level 57
Aug 30, 2020
@jkabq you're right, no apologies are necessary. However, that's because India, despite being treated horribly by the British for centuries, rose up and showed the world their strength. They now have a stronger economy and a better army than the UK.
+3
Level 76
Aug 15, 2023
A big economy doesn't mean a strong economy, unless you honestly think the DRC has a stronger economy than Monaco and Iceland.
+1
Level 22
Sep 2, 2023
Which economy would you consider stronger: that of Norway or that of China?
+2
Level 46
Jan 31, 2018
Please accept Afganistan. I'm pretty sure that's what I type on other quizzes.
+8
Level 77
Nov 27, 2019
Why don't you just put the H in?
+1
Level 68
Aug 30, 2020
lol
+1
Level 73
Jan 31, 2018
0:21, a lot of it just by guessing. It seems population correlates pretty well with aid received.
+1
Level 79
Aug 19, 2023
As in the amount of aid received seems consistent with the population of a country or that countries with higher populations receive aid? Because the latter seems to be the incorrect takeaway.
+1
Level 50
Feb 4, 2020
Missed Ghana and Bangladesh (again)...
+3
Level 80
Oct 17, 2020
In the Americas, why aren't places like Haiti, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia etc on the list? Colombia does not make much sense, unless it's due to political reasons ('war on drugs'), suppressing the trade unions etc.
+2
Level 57
Mar 25, 2021
Jordan 7th??!
+3
Level 82
Aug 14, 2023
Palestinian refugee camps?
+1
Level 68
Jun 2, 2022
update for Ukraine
+1
Level 42
Dec 8, 2022
2018 data
+1
Level 84
Aug 15, 2023
And the qualifier "Development assistance only, not military assistance". Not sure how much development aid is going in with the military hardware.
+5
Level 71
Aug 14, 2023
What's with the sudden flood of assistance to Egypt? Looking at the World Bank data, it looks like their aid rose from 1.56 billion in 2020 to 8.25 billion in 2021. I can't think of any notable events specific to Egypt during that time (barring the pandemic of course).
+2
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
I am surprised to see Jordan up there. Is it because most of this money goes towards supporting the influx of refugees from Syria, West Bank and Iraq?
+1
Level 71
Aug 31, 2023
Quizmaster - Please update the Source link for this. The current one doesn't seem to be working. Thank you.
+1
Level ∞
Aug 31, 2023
Works for me
+1
Level 65
Oct 11, 2023
Surprised to see Jordan, Colombia, Kenya, and Uganda up there, I’m gonna guess a lot of this money is going to refugees fleeing from neighboring countries.