development aid

In some countries there is more development aid than government spending. (Image from World in Data) Development aid (or development cooperation) is a type of aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries, as well as least developed, low-income or poor countries. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid by aiming at a sustained improvement in the conditions in developing countries, as well as least-developed, poor of low-income countries, rather than short-term relief. The overarching term is foreign aid (or just aid). The amount of foreign aid is measured though official development assistance (ODA). This is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure foreign aid.

Aid may be bilateral: given from one country directly to another; or it may be multilateral: given by the donor country to an international organisation such as the World Bank or the United Nations Agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, UNAIDS, etc.) which then distributes it among the developing countries. The proportion is currently about 70% bilateral 30% multilateral.