Pakistan floods: how much aid has the UK donated?
16 August, 2010 - 16:40 -- Full Fact team
The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today claimed that the UK accounts for a whopping 25 per cent of all the aid received by Pakistan to help deal with the flooding crisis. Can such a figure really add up?
The humanitarian crisis that has been precipitated by the severe floods in Pakistan is undeniable, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling it the worst natural disaster he has ever seen.
What seems to be more questionable however is the amount of aid that has been donated to help with the disaster by well-wishing countries.
The claim
Speaking on the BBC News Channel, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell argued that “Britain has been the lead country” in donating to the aid operation.
This was later quantified by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Speaking at a question and answer session at Microsoft earlier today, he claimed that “a quarter of aid comes from this country”.
This morning’s Mirror, however, paints a different story, noting that “The UN has appealed for an initial £300 million aid, but so far only about a fifth of that figure has been donated - mostly from America.”
So is the Government overstating the role it is playing in the relief effort in Pakistan?
Analysis
Full Fact contacted the Department for International Development (DfID) who referred us to United Nations data as its source for national aid donations made to the Pakistan appeal.
This shows that, as of 16th August, the UK had indeed committed more aid towards the UN’s target than any other nation, accounting for some $40.2 million. This represents 26.5 per cent of the $152 million that has been received by the UN.
The United States was the second largest contributor to the aid effort, with $25 million received by the UN at the time of writing.
So whilst the Mirror is incorrect to suggest that America accounts for most of the aid received thus far, there are nonetheless mitigating circumstances.
A further $61.4 million has been pledged by the United States, which, once fulfilled, will take their contribution to $86.4 million, more than double the total amount sent by the UK. Norway, Italy and the Netherlands have also pledged further aid, although none of these nations’ total donations will surpass the UK’s as things stand.
It is also worth noting that ‘donations per capita’ is more often used by the UN as a measure for comparing the contributions of nations to a given fund than the nominal amounts received. This is because it accounts for the relative size of national economies, and thus their ability to contribute.
Using this measure, the UK appears slightly lower on the donations scale, contributing $0.6 per British citizen. Denmark has so far contributed $2 per head of population, whilst Kuwait ($1.6) and Norway ($0.7) have also contributed more per person.
Conclusion
So whilst Nick Clegg is correct – for the time being – to say that the UK accounts for 25 per cent of aid donated towards the Pakistani flood crisis, there are a couple of caveats that should be highlighted if we are to understand the full picture.
Firstly, the size of the US aid package pledged but not yet received by the UN means that it will shortly become the largest contributor by some distance once these promises are fulfilled. Also, once the relative size of each country is accounted for, the UK has contributed less per head of population than Denmark, Kuwait and Norway.
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