17 September 2018: The Center for Global Development (CGD) has ranked 27 of the world’s richest countries on how their policies help people living in poor countries. The Commitment to Development Index (CDI), which is published annually, looks at policies beyond development aid to understand what countries are doing well to support the world’s poor and where countries can still learn from other approaches.

The Index analyzes seven policy areas: aid; finance; technology; environment; trade; security; and migration. Within each area, the CDI measures how countries’ domestic policies and actions support poor countries’ efforts towards good governance, prosperity and security. The CDI then adjusts for country economic weight and size, in order to measure countries according to their actual ability to help.

According to CGD, the CDI is similar to the SDGs in recognizing development progress as holistic. However, while the SDGs encompass all nations and all outcomes, the CDI focuses only on how the policies of rich countries make a difference.

Sweden ranks the highest on the CDI, with other European countries occupying the top 12 positions in the Index. Sweden receives excellent scores on foreign aid quantity and quality, environment and trade, and leads the migration ranking, with a high number of refugees, strong policies to integrate migrants and the highest share of migrant employment among EU countries. CGD observes, however, that Sweden’s openness to migrants “has resulted in a political backlash” and it is not yet clear how such perceptions will affect the country’s migration policies in the future. Denmark places second on the CDI, while Finland and Germany tie for third place.

Australia and Japan have “improved notably” since the 2017 CDI, the authors note. Australia is a leader in providing equal access to goods from developed countries, and has good migration policies, the second-lowest agricultural subsidies and a top-three trade ranking. However, Australia has the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of all 27 CDI-countries, resulting in a lagging score on the environment. Although Japan places 24th, the country has improved its trade ranking by ten positions.

Poland, Greece and the Republic of Korea place at the bottom of the rankings, although South Korea ranks first on technology because of its support for innovation and research and development. Greece has below-average performance on most components but leading scores on low gasoline taxes, and receives good scores for its openness to asylum seekers. Poland lags behind on aid, migration and technology but has the highest score on biodiversity protection.

Rich countries’ environment policies matter because the world’s poor depend on ecosystems to meet their daily needs.

The environment measure analyzes countries’ policies in three areas: biodiversity and ecosystems; global climate; and sustainable fisheries. According to CGD, rich countries’ policies matter for the environment because the world’s poor depend on the environment and ecosystems to meet their daily needs, with health ecosystems providing clean water and energy, income opportunities and shelters, and sustaining food security. The top five countries on the environment measure are Slovakia, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Spain. Slovakia has among the best GHG emission reductions, and Sweden does the best at controlling climate change. The lowest ranking countries are Canada (23), the US (24), Australia (25), Japan (26), and the Republic of Korea (27) occupies the bottom position, with its high imports of tropical timber, limited commitment to biodiversity and high consumption of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

CGD emphasizes that the CDI demonstrates that all countries “can do more to put coherent, development-friendly domestic policies in place.” CGD stresses that the policies of advanced economies have a lasting impact on people in poorer countries, and argues for increased innovation, investment and trade and a reduction in spillovers, such as climate change, conflict and violence.

CGD has compiled the CDI annually since 2003. [Commitment to Development Index 2018] [CGD press release on European rankings] [CGD press release on trade rankings] [CGB brief on CDI 2018]