Poverty & the Economy

USAID

Big Market
According to USAID,
more than 40 percent of all
U.S. exports and half of
U.S. agricultural exports
are sold to developing
countries -- these annual
exports account for about
4 million U.S. jobs.

Give and You Shall Receive
Forty-three of the top 50
consumer nations of American
agricultural products were once
U.S. foreign aid recipients.

Gets Even Bigger
Developing nations
import more goods from
the U.S. as their wealth
increases. Between 1990
and 1993, U.S. exports to
developing and transition
countries increased by
$46 billion.

Cheap to Address and Expensive to Ignore:
According to FAO, studies suggest that hunger and
micronutrient deficiencies decrease children's
learning capacity by up to 10 percent and cost
developing countries $128 billion per year in
productivity losses alone.

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Poverty and the Economy
Four billion potential consumers are currently living in poverty and U.S.
businesses are missing the largest, untapped market on earth. History has
proven that the economic benefits of addressing poverty are phenomenal.

Economically Strategic
According to the FAO, the
global benefits of reducing the
number of hungry by half
would be at least $120 billion
per year as a result of longer,
healthier and more productive
lives for several hundred
million people.

And the World gets Safer
A study conducted by the U.S.
estimated that if the World
Food Summits goal of
reducing hunger by half is
met; it will lower the cost of
peacekeeping and humanitarian
operations by $2.5 billion per
year.

Foot in the Door
Over the past decade, USAID has targeted
some $15 million in technical assistance for
the energy sectors of developing countries.
U.S. assistance has built a $50 billion annual
market for private power. U.S. firms are
capturing the largest share of these markets,
out-competing Japan and Germany.

“U.S. foreign assistance
has always had the
twofold purpose of
furthering America's
foreign policy interests in
expanding democracy
and free markets while
improving the lives of the
citizens of the developing
world.”

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