The Commitment to Development Index (CDI), published annually by the Center for Global Development, ranks the world's richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. Rich and poor countries are linked in many ways; thus the Index looks beyond standard comparisons of foreign aid flows. It measures "development-friendliness" of 40 of the world's richest countries, all member nations of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee. The CDI assesses national effort in seven policy areas: aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security, and technology. It is considered to be a numerical targeting indicator for Goal 8 of the Millennium Development Goals. It shows that aid is about more than quantity – quality also matters – and that development policy is about more than aid. The Index penalizes countries that give with one hand, for instance through aid or investment, but take away with the other, through trade barriers or pollution.
In 2021, the CDI ranked Sweden number one in the world, followed by France, Norway, Australia and the United Kingdom. Argentina, United Arab Emirates and India finished at the bottom.
History
The CDI is a flagship initiative of the Center for Global Development (CGD), a non-profit think-tank based in Washington, DC. CGD first published the Index in Foreign Policy magazine in 2003 with the aim of provoking discussion, highlighting gaps in current knowledge, and encouraging policy reform. The Index was published annually in conjunction with Foreign Policy through 2006, and since published by CGD alone. David Roodman, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, is the chief architect of the Index with research and support from key collaborators for technical work on components. Although the formulas and analysis at the heart of the CDI remain the same, slight methodological changes occur every year and indicators are constantly updated. The CDI originally ranked 21 countries; South Korea was added in 2008 and five additional European countries were added in 2012: Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland, and Slovakia. They would add 13 more countries in the late 2010s. In 2008, regional CDIs were also published, assessing donor government policies and engagement to specific regions of the world such as sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Components
Aid
Foreign aid is the first component of the CDI, assessing both quantity as a percent of GDP and quality. The Index penalizes tied aid, which requires recipients to spend aid on products from the donor nation and raises project costs by 15 to 30 percent. Aid to poor, better-governed nations is also favored by the CDI. While aid to Equatorial Guinea—where corruption is more widespread and rule of law is weaker—is counted at 15¢ on the dollar, aid to Ghana—where poverty is high and governance relatively good—is counted at 94¢ on the dollar. Donors are penalized for overloading recipient governments with too many small aid projects, which burden recipient officials with hosting obligations and regular report filing. Finally, the Index rewards governments for letting taxpayers write off charitable contributions, since some of those contributions go to Oxfam, CARE, and other nonprofits working in developing countries.
Trade
International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. Because rich-country players call most of the shots in this intensely political process, some goods that poor countries are best at producing, including crops, still face high barriers in rich countries. The trade component of the CDI penalizes countries for erecting barriers to imports of crops, clothing, and other goods from poor nations. It looks at two kinds of barriers: tariffs (taxes) on imports, and subsidies for domestic farmers, which stimulate overproduction and depress world prices.