Majority of people want their governments to give more money.

0.7% is all it would take. Just 0.7% of the gross national product, or total of all the goods and services a country makes. That's all it would take to meet the goal of lifting half of the world people out of poverty.

Yet the US only gives .22%, Canada only gives .33%, the UK .48%

A new study out today shows a majority of people in the developed world believes we should give more.

The study conducted by World Public Opinion asked something like the following... If you gave x amount of dollars knowing it would lift half of the people worldwide out of poverty, knowing the rest of the developed world would pay a similar amount, would you do it?


A large majority said yes,



The survey also asked if you thought that the developed world had a responsibility to help the undeveloped.



Here is a snippet with more info on the survey. From a press release issued by World Public Opinion

Respondents were presented a necessary annual per person contribution toward meeting this goal, adjusted for national income, ranging from $10 for Turks to $56 for Americans. In every case, and in most cases by a large margin, majorities of respondents say they are willing to personally pay the amount necessary to meet the goal, provided that people in other countries did so as well.

In a question asked to 20 nations around the world, majorities in all but one agree that developed countries "have a moral responsibility to help reduce hunger and severe poverty in poor countries." On average, eight in 10 say developed countries have such a responsibility.

Respondents in France, Italy, Great Britain, South Korea, Turkey, the United States, Germany, and Russia were told about the Millennium Development Goal of cutting hunger and severe poverty in half and told how much it would cost each person in their country if the cost were shared among all of the OECD countries. These amounts were: the United States $56, Great Britain $49, or 25 pounds sterling, France $45, or 29 euros, Germany $43, or 27 euros, Italy $39, or 25 euros, South Korea $23, or 24,000 won, Russia $11, or 257 rubles and Turkey $10, or 12 liras.

They were then asked: "Assuming the people in the other countries were willing to pay their share, would you be willing to pay [per-person amount] a year to cut hunger by half and reduce severe poverty?"

Majorities in every country polled say that they would be willing to pay the required amount. In every country except one, the majorities are very large, ranging from 75 percent in the United States to 86 percent in France. Russia is the one country with a modest majority--54 percent. On average, 77 percent are in favor of contributing a proportion of their country's foreign aid to meet this goal, and only 17 percent would not be willing to do so.

The methodology of the survey can be downloaded here.