Who's counting?

The UN estimates that the cost to end world hunger completely along with diseases related to hunger and poverty is about $195 billion a year.

Twenty two countries have joined together to raise this money by each contributing 0.7% (less than 1% of national income).

Now let’s think about US foreign policy dominated by its military budget. The US will spend about $800 billion on security compared with less than $20 billion for economic development.

Take Pakistan as a case in point, it faces huge problems of poverty, population, and environment but 75% of the $10 billion in aid has gone to the Pakistan military. Another 16% went straight to the Pakistani government, no questions asked. That left less than 10% for development and humanitarian assistance. Annual US aid for education in Pakistan has amounted to just $64 million, or $US1.16 per school aged child.

None of this spending helps address the underlying problems of poverty, child mortality, water scarcity in places like Pakistan, Sudan’s Darfur or Somalia.