Should Richer Nations Help Poorer Nations

“It is a tragic mix-up when the United States spends $500,000 for every enemy soldier killed, and only $53 annually on the victims of poverty.” This is a famous quote said by Martin Luther King, Junior. This goes to show that there has been insufficient attention given to the pressing issue of poverty. Rich nations have always been giving aid to poor nations, but there have been arguments of whether rich nations should continue to provide aid for poor nations since it reap negative consequences and aid not reaching the correct group. However, it is not possible for rich nations to stop giving aid as poor nations will be unable to survive on its own.

Rich nations should stop giving aid to poorer nations as this can create over-reliance. Due to the constant help given by rich nations, government of poorer nations may end up not doing anything to help its country and allow richer nations to help them. This will result in them being unable to be independent and always have to rely on richer nations for aid. Problems may start surfacing during economic crisis where richer nations may cut down the amount of aid to help their own countries. During economic crisis, rich nations will demand lesser of poor nations’ exports, leading to a fall in income for poor nations. Coupled with a fall in aid, poor nations may experience recession and since poor nations are used to getting aid from rich nations, they may be unable to get out of recession until rich nations start to give more aid. Thus, rich nations should try and stop giving aid to poorer nations so that poorer nations will start to rely on themselves.

There is a reason for rich nations to think twice before giving aid to poorer nations as there are corrupt governments which misuse the aid given to them. Instead of effectively using the aid to alleviate the suffering of those in poverty, aid is used for military purposes. In May the Burmese government hindered international relief efforts after the most damaging cyclone in its history, which killed an estimated 130,000. Burma has also received extensive military aid from India and China in the past.[118] According to some estimates, Burma has received more than US$200 million in military aid from India.[119]. In the Corruption Perceptions Index Report for 2010 released by Transparency International, Burma ranks second to the bottom among 176 countries surveyed worldwide by the international corruption watchdog. Due to such rampant corruption in Burma, the people are still suffering from lack of food, water and amenities. This leads to rich nations asking themselves whether the aid should be given at all, if it is not put to good use.

However, rich nations canoot let the poor nations survive on their own due to many reasons.

Rich nations will be able to improve their economies if they provide aid for poor nations. By helping poor nations, they will be able to develop and enabling the citizens to have higher standard of living. When this happens, their demand for goods will increase and they will start importing from other countries or producing their own goods. This will benefit rich nations as their exports will increase leading to them getting richer while poor nations will start to become more developed. The GNI(PPP) per capita for Sub-Saharan Africa (which composed of 45 countries including Somalia and Ethiopia) has been rising over the years from US$2164 in 2008 to US$2242 in 2010. This shows that aid is useful in helping the country’s economy as it enables the gross national income to rise and enable the citizens to have higher standard of living. Thus, rich nations should not stop giving aid as it will result in the worsening of the problem of poverty in poor nations.

Rich countries cannot simply let the poor countries fend for themselves as they lack the resources to fight poverty. They absolutely need external help to provide resources and knowledge in order to begin the fight to alleviate poverty. As South Asians lurch toward the 2015 deadline for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), it is important to recognize their governments' role and the need for help from rich donor nations to significantly increase spending on human development for poverty reduction. However, the South Asian governments alone cannot do it. The private sector organizations, NGOs and civil society have to come forward to make their contribution toward meeting the important MDG goals to reduce poverty and hunger and improve health and literacy. In Pakistan's case in particular, the overseas Pakistanis and Pakistan's middle class need to step forward to do their part in rebuilding the shattered lives of millions of their poor fellow citizens affected by the recent floods.

The world is interlinked, each nation will have connections with other nations, therefore it may not be beneficial for rich nations to not help poor nations since there may be times when rich nations would need their help. We are all living on the earth, if we do not help poor nations, who will.