• Rich countries give half as much now as they did in 1960. Total aid from rich countries in 2004 was $78.9 billion. This is 0.25% of their income.  In 1960 rich countries spent double this amount of their income on aid.
  

• It would cost G8 governments just $1 a week per citizen to meet their contribution to $50 billion.  Governments in G8 countries spend at least 10 times this amount per citizen on annual defense spending.

“Economists tell us – indeed, have been telling us for decades – that the cost of defeating poverty is easily affordable. It is tiny in comparison with the more than trillion dollars that will be spent on armaments this year (2005). What has been lacking is willpower.”  
              – The Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane

• If Germany were to meet its 0.7 per cent target in 2014, the additional money compared to what its aid levels will be on current trends ($10.8 billion) could lift 270 million people out of extreme poverty. The costs would be one quarter of the German defense budget.
  

• If the UK were to reach 0.7 in 2010, the additional money compared to today’s aid budget could put 148 million extra children in school or save 2.5 million lives.

• 245 million children between the ages of 5 & 17 continue to be forced to work – that’s one in six of the world’s children.
  

“The challenge of responsibility weighs on the EU and US, who must move towards making serious concessions, avoid making excessive demands on developing countries and put the concerns of African countries at the centerpiece of a renewed framework.”
              – Irungu Houghton – Pan Africa Advisor, OXFAM

• 800 million people go to bed hungry every day.
  

• Every year nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday.
  

“Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together and ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty.”
               – Fr. Joseph Wresinski, Founder of ATD Fourth World, 1917-1988