There's been a lot of screaming and yelling in this forum about how much America has contributed and continues to contribute to poorer countries (including Afghanistan) in terms of aid dollars. Decided to take a closer look, just for the hell of it......
First of all, the US is not the biggest donor, - Japan is, by a long way.
Secondly, as far as percentage of GDP is concerned, the US comes LAST out of the 22 richest industrialised nations, that is despite being the richest nation on earth, by a very long way.
It contributes just 0.10% of its GDP. Britain is also pretty crap, with 0.23%. Both figures are well below the average, sadly.
Denmark comes top, with 1.01%, closely followed by Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, and Luxembourg.
Here's a link to the chart, if anyone is interested. There's also another chart on the same site which shows donations in terms of who gives the most overall.
http://www.oecd.org/jpg/M00002000/M00002882.jpg