International Development

Wealth inequality

Extreme wealth inequality is persistent and increasing, deny billions of people the opportunity to escape poverty. Incredibly, about 56,000 people, or 0.001 per cent of the world’s population, control three times as much wealth as the bottom half of humanity combined.  The richest 10 per cent of the world’s population own three-quarters of global wealth and the bottom half just 2 per cent.

With wealth inequality increasing rapidly around the world, in almost every region, the top 1 per cent is wealthier than the bottom 90 per cent combined.

In comparison, developing countries face a $4.3 trillion annual financing gap to meet the SDGs, including $1.8 trillion for climate needs, or 0.7 per cent of the estimated US$600 trillion of global wealth.

Colonisation

The European invasion and exploitation of the physical, human, and economic resources of countries, especially in Africa, changed their future forever.

The Atlantic slave trade of the 18th century saw over 10 million Africans shipped to the New World, devastating Africa by causing massive depopulation, particularly of young, able-bodied individuals, which led to social, economic, and political instability. 

Economic incentives for warlords and tribes to engage in the slave trade promoted an atmosphere of lawlessness and violence.  With a large percentage of the people taken captive in Africa being women in their childbearing years and young men who normally would have been starting families, and a continuing fear of captivity, economic and agricultural development almost impossible throughout much of western Africa.

The Congo Free State fared particularly badly under King Leopold II of Belgium in the late 19th/early 20th century with one researcher estimating ‘many millions, possibly 10 million or more’ died from forced labour, killings and related causes.

The introduction of colonial rule, and the subsequent dividing up into countries, drew arbitrary boundaries where none had existed before, dividing ethnic and linguistic groups and natural features, and laying the foundation for the creation of numerous states lacking geographic, linguistic, ethnic, or political affinity.

For instance, The Gambia began with early Arab traders in the 9th and 10th centuries, followed by rule under the Mali and Songhai empires. The Portuguese claimed the country in the mid-15th century, followed by the French and the British in the 17th century, the latter establishing it as a protectorate in 1894 and set its modern boundaries with France in 1889, before gaining its independence from Britain in 1965. The Gambia’s 765 km land border represents its colonial trading licences, following lines of latitude and longitude and a 10-kilometre buffer on either side of the Gambia River.   As the smallest mainland country in Africa and is almost entirely surrounded by Senegal, it survives through Scandinavian tourism (it is cheaper to come to The Gambian summer than heat their homes in their winter).  It did. However, make it the ideal country to establish the world’s first relay run across a nation by an enterprising young accountant.

Resources curse

Also called the ‘paradox of plenty’, this is where countries with an abundance of natural resources suffer lower economic growth along with higher rates of authoritarianism,  corruption and political instability than countries with fewer resources.  

For instance, Nigeria’s reliance on oil has led to economic instability and debt with over half the population living below the poverty line; the Democratic Republic of Congo possesses over $24 trillion in untapped mineral deposits but has three-quarters of the population in extreme poverty; and Sierra Leone’s abundant diamond wealth fuelled a brutal civil war from 1991 to 1999.

Patriarchy 

Male-centred norms hinder development when they limit women’s participation in economic, social, and political life, as well as reinforce power imbalances.  

In working across West and East Africa, my experience is that men control the family and community in rural settings.  Men own the assets and politics. Women do all the manual work of the household, village and fields.  Polygamy is practised in numerous African countries, with the highest rates in West and Central Africa.

Women continue to work more and earn less than men, capturing just over a quarter of total labour income, a share that has barely shifted since 1990. In the Middle East & North Africa, women’s share is only 16 per cent; in South & Southeast Asia it is 20 per cent and in Sub-Saharan Africa it is 28 per cent.

Practised in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia and recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) removes part or all of the clitoral glans and/or the labia minora. FGM is often linked to beliefs that women must be sexually controlled, reducing sexual desire prevents "promiscuity" and virginity before marriage ensures family honour. The practice has no health benefits for girls and women and can result in severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, menstrual difficulties, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.

Girls in developing countries face multiple disadvantages such as limited access to education, higher rates of poverty, and increased vulnerability to violence, forced marriage, and trafficking.

Education

For individuals, education promotes employment, earnings, health, and poverty reduction. For communities, it drives long-term economic growth, spurs innovation, strengthens institutions, and fosters social cohesion.

Under the Millennium Development Goals, the world failed on its promise for all children to go to primary school by 2015. The new education goal, SDG 4,  set the level of ambition a step higher, calling for all young people to complete secondary school by the 2030 deadline. To achieve this, all children of school starting age should have begun school in 2018.  In reality, only 70 per cent did so in low-income countries.

COVID has not helped. In low and middle-income countries, the share of children living in Learning Poverty (the proportion of 10-year-old children that are unable to read and understand a short age-appropriate text) increased from 57 per cent before the pandemic to an estimated 70 per cent in 2022.

With an additional $97 billion annually needed by developing countries to meet SDG 4 by 2030, the funding of education remains inadequate. In 2025, average education spending per child in Sub-Saharan Africa stood at just $400, compared with €13,000 in Europe and $16,00 in North America.

Corruption

Developing countries are synonymous with the abuse of public office for massive private gain. Corruption costs developing countries $1.26 trillion every year (enough money to lift 1.4 billion people in extreme poverty above the poverty threshold and keep them there for at least six years), hindering economic growth, accumulating debt, eroding public and international trust, and perpetuating poverty. According to the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the Marcos family stole US$5 billion–$10 billion from the Central Bank of the Philippines.  Mobutu was famous for corruption and nepotism while the people of Zaire suffered from poverty and human rights abuses. He embezzled an estimated $4-15 billion during his time in office.

Unsurprisingly, developing countries feature at the lower end of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

Conflict

Tribal territorial disputes, poverty, food and water shortages, land tenure, political power grabs, resources and religious ideologies, corruption and foreign interventions by Western powers all contribute to ongoing conflict and destabilisation in developing countries.

Today, roughly 2 billion people – one quarter of humanity – live in conflict-affected countries.  Over 122 million people have been forcibly displaced by conflict, violence, and persecution worldwide, six in ten of whom are internally displaced people.

Africa hosts more than 35 domestic armed conflicts taking place in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Mali, Egypt, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo,  Libya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Western Sahara. Several armed groups – fighting against government forces and/or against each other – are involved in these conflicts.  Western powers and/or neighbouring countries are intervening in these conflicts in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Somalia.

Debt burden

Many lower-income countries rely on a few commodity exports (such as oil, copper, coffee, cocoa, peanuts). Prices are volatile and when they fall, governments borrow to fill budget gaps.  Governments also borrow to fund essential services when they don’t raise sufficient revenue through taxes.

Add to this, corruption and capital flight, inefficient public spending, weak financial institutions, borrowing for consumption rather than productive investment and vanity infrastructure projects.

Tripling in 15 years, public debt in sub-Saharan Africa reached an estimated $1.15 trillion in 2023. At the same time, African currencies have depreciated sharply against the debt-denominated US dollar or Euro, while global borrowing costs have surged. Together, these dynamics mean African governments now spend unprecedented amounts and servicing their debt. In 2024, 34 African countries spent more on external debt payments than on their healthcare and/or education budgets.  Meanwhile, debt servicing costs have tripled and interest payments have quadrupled over the past decade.

Land

With land the most important asset for households and individuals in the developing world, the majority of whom rely on agriculture for their nutrition and livelihoods, most of the world’s population lacks secure rights to the land on which they live.  Nearly half of the world’s economies limit the ability of women to own property.  For instance, in Africa, women account for 70 per cent of all food production, yet few women have rights to the land on which they depend. 

Land tenure issues in developing countries include poorly defined property rights, insecure tenure for the poor, and conflicts between formal and customary systems. These problems lead to a lack of investment, food insecurity, and displacement, and are often exacerbated by pressures from population growth, market forces, and climate change. 

Small-scale food producers are essential for resilient agriculture, food security and the fight against hunger. But with land bequeathed to sons, the size of land ownership becomes ever smaller and less productive. Add to this land degradation from over-cultivation, water shortages and climate change and households remain highly vulnerable. 

Climate change

Developing countries contribute the least to global emissions but suffer the most from extreme weather, rising temperatures and drought, with income losses in low-income countries attributed to climate impacts about five times larger than those in high-income countries.  Of the 124 million people worldwide who face crisis levels of acute food insecurity, over three-quarters have been affected by climate shocks and extremes. 

The impacts of climate change are both many and compounding on developing countries. More cases of diseases such as malaria, increasing water shortages and worsening water quality, rising prevalence of crop failures and higher food prices. With rising sea levels, almost 90 per cent of the world’s flood-exposed population is based in developing countries.

The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2050, over 200 million climate refugees will have been displaced in six world regions, with the top three being in sub-Saharan Africa (86 million), East Asia and the Pacific (49 million) and South Asia (40 million).

International aid

The level of Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by governments to developing countries has been declining.  ODA dropped 9 per cent in 2024 with France, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States all cutting their ODA. A further 9-17 per cent reduction is expected for 2025, with least developed countries projected to see a 13-25 per cent fall and countries in sub-Saharan Africa facing a 16-28 per cent decline. 

With the SDG 17 target of 0.7 per cent of donors’ gross national income, the aid actually provided is now less than half. Australia's ODA has also been declining and is currently around 0.19 per cent, compared to 0.34 per cent thirty years ago, or only 1.56 per cent of total ODA.  At $172 per person, behind New Zealand, we are among the lower-ranked donor countries.  

Over the years, the international aid sector and its funders have been criticised for their top-down development approach that neglects the understanding, wishes and skills of the communities.  The White Saviour complex treats those in developing countries as helpless victims who need to be saved.  It risks a lack of understanding of the challenges and solutions, local skills and resources available and acceptance by the community, and, accordingly, can lead to harm, unsustainability and waste.

Under the 2016 UN-led Grand Bargain, the INGOs and donors agreed to reach more people in need and spend less money on administration and overheads, whilst also improving the design and delivery of humanitarian action.  The Grand Bargain 2.0 in 2021 focused on localisation (supporting local responders), quality funding (more flexible and predictable funding for aid agencies), and the participation of affected communities in decision-making. 

Localisation involves a fundamental shift in power, decision-making, and equitable partnerships. Meeting the target of 25 per cent of international humanitarian funding channelled as directly as possible to local and national actors has been challenging with only 7 per cent recorded in 2023.