India biggest recipient of US economic assistance over 66-year period: USAID

Published July 14, 2015
Pakistan falls short of the list of top ten countries receiving the greatest amount of military and total foreign assistance from the US. ─ AFP/File
Pakistan falls short of the list of top ten countries receiving the greatest amount of military and total foreign assistance from the US. ─ AFP/File

The United States, over the period 1946-2012, has given India the largest amount of economic assistance, while providing Israel the greatest quantity of military assistance over the same interval, according to data compiled by USAID.

The US also gave Israel the greatest total foreign assistance over the 66-year period, at $199 billion.

The data, which is inflation adjusted, shows India received approximately $65.1bn in economic assistance from 1946 until 2012, followed closely by Israel, which was given $65bn.

With $44.4bn received as economic assistance from the US, Pakistan is also among the top five countries to receive economic assistance out of a total of 200 countries and regions.


Top 10 countries receiving US economic assistance from 1946-2012

  1. India: $65.1bn
  2. Israel: $65bn
  3. United Kingdom: $63.6bn
  4. Egypt: $59.6bn
  5. Pakistan: $44.4bn
  6. Vietnam: $41bn
  7. Iraq: $39.7bn
  8. South Korea: $36.5bn
  9. Germany: $33.3bn
  10. France: $31bn

Indian economic aid is spread out over various sectors and programs, including child survival and health, development assistance, HIV/AIDS initiatives, migration and refugee assistance, food aid, and narcotics control. The bulk of this aid ($26bn) is provided to various USAID programmes.

A majority of Israel's $65bn economic assistance was given to its Economic Support Fund and Security Support Assistance, with $56.5bn alone attributed to these programmes.

In comparison, of the $44.4bn provided to Pakistan in economic assistance, $13.8bn is given to USAID programmes, while $13.7bn is attributed to the Economic Support Fund and Security Support Assistance.

Israel received $134bn in military assistance over 1946-2012 ─ a figure which far outnumbers military assistance provided to the the second entrant on the list, Vietnam, at $77.9bn.

Read: Pakistan 3rd biggest recipients of US aid


Top 10 countries receiving US military assistance from 1946-2012

  1. Israel: $134bn
  2. Vietnam: $77.9bn
  3. Egypt: $62bn
  4. Afghanistan: $48.3bn
  5. Turkey: $42.2bn
  6. South Korea: $41.1bn
  7. France: $33bn
  8. Greece: $29.5bn
  9. China: $26.3bn
  10. Iraq: $24.7bn

Pakistan just misses being on the top 10 list, coming in at twelfth place with $12.9bn in military assistance from the US. India, however, is placed at 47 out of a list of 193 countries, receiving $897 million in military assistance.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan received most of the military assistance from the US during the superpower's involvement in Afghanistan during the 1980s and then after 2001.

The US non-military aid to Pakistan for the period 1991-2001 averaged just $75 million per year, while the total military aid during the eleven-year period was a paltry $7 million.

Pakistan also falls short of the list of countries receiving the greatest amount of total foreign assistance form the US ─ but India and Israel both make the list, with the latter in the top spot.

Pakistan comes in at eleventh place on the list, with $57.3bn in total foreign assistance ─ over $100bn less than the amount received by the top position holder on the list.


Countries receiving greatest total foreign assistance

  1. Israel: $199.5bn
  2. Egypt: $121.6bn
  3. Vietnam: $118.9bn
  4. South Korea: $77.6bn
  5. Afghanistan: $76.9bn
  6. United Kingdom: $71.5bn
  7. India: $66bn
  8. Turkey: $64.4bn
  9. Iraq: $64.3bn
  10. France: $64bn

All figures have been rounded off to the nearest decimal place.

— Infographics by Hufsa Chaudhry

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