They get less of the national income than in some far poorer countries.
report shows the share of G.N.P. given in foreign aid by advanced countries; the United States ranks dead last, well behind far poorer countries such as Portugal and Greece.
The country needs to spend less of its money on soldiers and more on educating its people: with its literacy rate a shameful 58%, Pakistan is below far poorer countries such as Haiti and Congo.
In 2007, the World Health Organization ranked China's health system as 144th in terms of quality and access, out of 190 countries, below far poorer countries like Haiti.
"I cannot conceive of a war in which North Korea, a far smaller, far poorer country, attacks Japan first," said Ryuichi Ozawa, a professor of constitutional studies at Shizuoka University.
But finance has fallen well short of that target so far, and poor countries are concerned they will not receive the promised money.
Even in America, with better diets, medical care and widespread fortification, not all women get enough micronutrients, but the problem is far worse in poor countries.
The rapid internationalisation of supply chains has made it far easier for poor countries to insert themselves into the unconditional convergence machinery of industrial production.
Yet discussions about how to reduce barriers for industrial goods which are far higher in poor countries than rich ones are at an impasse, thanks largely to the intransigence of big emerging economies, such as India and Brazil.
In the Far East, very poor countries are becoming more affluent through capitalism, and the Koreans and the Indians would probably think it is a salvation and reckon those in the West who see "mere affluence" as no guarantee of the quality of life are being patronising and smug.
