Behind the simple statistic that total aid for 2007 amounted to $103.7 billion lies a hornets' nest of definitions and terminology. The complexity has enabled politicians to become adept at announcing new aid initiatives which on close examination turn out to be repackaging of existing commitments. For example, the cost of debt relief is included in aid figures, so that "good news" about debt can be duplicated as "good news" about aid. Over 9% of total 2007 aid related to costs of debt relief.

There is an important distinction between emergency relief (known as "humanitarian aid"), which deals with short term expediency and aid for long term development programmes. The increasing incidence of extreme weather events driven by climate change, conflict-related emergencies, and natural disasters ensure that humanitarian aid is much in demand, accounting for about 6% of all aid in 2007.

West Kabul © Brandy Bauer

The cost of reconstruction of war zones is a rather more controversial inclusion in aid statistics, given the overlap with security issues, and given that its volume is currently on a similar scale to humanitarian aid. US reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan has created a tendency for misleading statements about "new" aid commitment - 30% of US aid in 2007 was destined for Iraq.

Next there is technical cooperation, a controversial area which is poorly defined and measured. It refers to a core component of capacity building, the transfer of skills and knowledge, typically carried out by individuals from the donor country. These “consultants” are a common target of criticism for the amount of funding that they absorb, just under 15% of total aid in 2007.

What remains in aid statistics after these four categories relates to genuine “programme” aid but the presumption that it is rigorously targeted to help poor people in the poorest countries is false. Generous US aid to countries such as Israel, Colombia, Egypt and Pakistan has more to do with the maintenance of stable and friendly governments than concern for poverty. So-called national interest can be a far more powerful stimulant for aid budgets than the moral sentiment of the Millennium Declaration. Aid for development of the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa (including technical cooperation) therefore accounts for just over 20% of the total.

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