Are rich countries helping or hurting the poor?

Leaders of the world's richest nations love to make impassioned pleas to help the poor. In the last year, they've proposed an airline ticket tax to fund foreign aid and promised the end of agricultural subsidies. 

But are the world's richest countries actually making things better for those most in need? Each year, FP and the Center for Global Development join forces to produce the Commitment to Development Index, a measure of how rich-country governments are helping or hurting poor countries. How much aid are they giving? How high are their trade barriers against imports such as cotton from Mali or sugar from Brazil? Are they working to slow global warming? Are they making the world’' sea lanes safe for global trade?

This year's index, which was released today, has a new leader and, as always, it suggests that much, much more can be done.