ABSTRACT
Development aid is the subject of heavy debate. In many ways the world has improved immensely over the past sixty years. However, the question is increasingly being raised as to what contribution aid has made to this development. Progress has primarily become apparent over the last few decades. In the past twenty-five years, life expectancy in all developing countries taken together has risen by ten years, and the percentage of children attending school has doubled. Poverty around the globe has also halved, to a quarter of the world’s population. This success, however, has primarily been achieved in Asia, with China alone accounting for three quarters of the decrease. In Sub-Saharan Africa, real incomes have doubled over the past twenty-five years, but the percentage of people living on an income under the poverty line has not fallen. Can these successes be attributed to development aid, or should the lack of success be blamed on aid? The answer to both questions is: ‘No’.
