Globally, the scale of hunger remains alarmingly high. Up to 50 million people in 45 countries are on the brink of famine. Although more than enough food is produced worldwide to feed the world's population, 10 percent of the world's people still go hungry. By 2023, the United Nations (UN) estimates that at least 339 million people worldwide will need humanitarian assistance and protection.
The UN and its humanitarian partners require $51.5 billion to stem the worst of the suffering. International donors have allocated $29.55 billion for 2022, but needs are growing faster than funding. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the funding gap for humanitarian operations last year was 43 percent ($22.15 billion).
And not all countries contribute to the financing. The bulk of the funding - more than 80 percent - is provided by just ten countries or international organizations. These include some of the world's most powerful economies, but by no means all. Many of the largest economies do not participate at all and numerous others participate only marginally, resulting in the continued suffering of millions of people. When far too little money is raised, humanitarian organizations are forced to decide to whom to allocate the scarce funds available.
The largest economies
The world's largest economies - by estimated real gross domestic product (GDP) for 2021 - are, in descending order: China, United States, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, France, United Kingdom, Turkey, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Poland, and Australia (Source: CIA World Factbook 2022).
While the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom were among the world's top ten humanitarian aid donors in 2022, nearly half of the countries that rank among the world's most powerful economies are doing nothing or next to nothing to support millions of people in humanitarian crises around the world (Source: Financial Tracking Service).
China in the spotlight
The most appalling case is by far China. In 2022, the world's most populous country and largest economic power paid just US$2.7 million in recorded humanitarian aid. That is 0.00001 percent of GDP (0.010 percent mille of GDP). China's refusal to fund necessary humanitarian aid is made particularly clear when compared to the United States, which has funded global humanitarian assistance with US$16.8 billion (0.08 percent of GDP, 80 percent mille of GDP) last year, or Germany, which has spent US$4.4 billion (0.113 percent of GDP, 113 percent mille of GDP) on the world's most vulnerable people.
At the same time, the People's Republic of China presents itself in its foreign policy as a friendly power and global savior, but the country apparently pays no attention to people in need and suffering. Money for rearmament, on the other hand, seems abundant. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2022 China invested $293 billion in its military.
More countries doing exactly nothing
Apart from China, other major emerging and big economies are also attracting unpleasant attention for their inaction: Brazil, India, Iran, Indonesia, Poland, Russia and Mexico. All of these countries are among the most reluctant humanitarian donors in the world.
Turkey - a special case
Turkey is a special case because it deploys few financial resources, but instead provides many material resources as the largest host country for refugees in the world. The country is currently hosting 3.6 million Syrian refugees. Moreover, following the devastating earthquakes of February 6, 2023, Turkey is itself in the grip of an extraordinary crisis and in need of massive humanitarian assistance.
Room for maneuver for Western-oriented democracies
Poland was identified as one country that spends very little on humanitarian funding. But Spain, South Korea, Italy, Australia, France and Japan, which contributed a decent amount in 2022, could also do much more in terms of their economic strength. Compared to Germany, which spent 0.11 percent of its GDP on humanitarian aid in 2022, there is plenty of room for increases even for large donors such as the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
Not to be forgotten
Several countries in the world allocate an even larger share of their national economy than Germany to humanitarian aid. However, these countries do not rank among the world's twenty largest economies and have therefore not been considered so far. The group of nations that invest an above-average percentage of gross domestic product in international humanitarian aid includes Norway (0.23 percent), Sweden (0.19 percent) and Denmark (0.14 percent). The three Scandinavian countries can serve as a model and a reminder for the world's largest economies.