Over the last 50 years, Africa is estimated to have lost in excess of $1 trillion in illicit financial flows (IFFs). This sum is roughly equivalent to all of the official development assistance (ODA) received by Africa during the same timeframe. Currently, Africa is estimated to be losing more than $50 billion annually in IFFs.
Around 40% of the European Commission's Overseas Development Aid (ODA) goes to Africa every year. The continent has received more than a quarter of the €2.7 billion increase in the aid budget since 2005 and, in 2009, aid for trade to the African, Caribbean and Pacific States increased to €3.6 billion. But where does the money end up?
Although child marriage is prohibited by international law, over 700 million underage girls are married worldwide, particularly in Africa and Asia.
Together, EU institutions and their member states are the biggest contributor to development cooperation worldwide. In 2012 alone, more than $37 billion was donated in aid – not counting loans made by the European Investment Bank.
The aid index released annually by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has become a reference for trends of official development finance, and ways to make it work to its fullest.
According to the World Health Organization, some 6.6 million children, under the age of 5, died in 2012, half of them from conditions that were preventable, or treated with access to simple, affordable interventions.
In 2000, the world set six education targets to be met by the end of next year. But despite advances over the past decade, "not a single goal will be achieved globally by 2015," according to a Unesco Global Monitoring Report.
The Netherlands, France and Switzerland are the three countries enjoying the planet’s cheapest, healthiest and most plentiful diets according to a new Oxfam ‘Good Enough to Eat’ index, while three African countries have the worst.
After the Lampedusa tragedy, several EU leaders called for development aid to be targeted toward countries, mostly in Africa, which are a major source of illegal immigration.
