Commitment to Development Index

The rich countries should – and could – do more to promote prosperity in the world. That is the conclusion reached by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development (CGD) in its latest analysis of what 21 industrialised countries do to help others develop. The Commitment to Development Index, which the CGD has published annually since 2003, rates the rich countries in terms of their pro-development performance in seven areas: environment, aid, trade, investment, migration, security and technology. At the top of this year’s index – as in the past two years – is the Netherlands, to which the CGD awards particularly good marks in the areas of aid and investment. Hard on its heels come Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which get high scores for aid. Australia, Canada and New Zealand, tying for 5th place with Finland, are deemed by the Washington think tank to be strong on migration and security.
Germany ranks 12th overall and 3rd in the group of the world’s leading industrial nations (G7) behind Canada and the UK. The CGD praises Germany’s above-average performance on the environment and its comparative willingness to accept migration from developing countries. However, the CGD analysts state that Germany could do better in terms of contributing to international peacekeeping mission and the transfer of technologies. (ell)