Global development refers to improvements in the conditions of people’s lives around the world, such as health, education, and income. It occurs at different rates in different countries.

The U.S. has undergone its own version of development. When it became an independent nation in 1776:

• The average American earned about $1000 a year in today’s dollars compared with $30,000 today.
• One in five children died before their first birthday, compared with one in 143 today. Less than 50% of white children, and almost no black children, went to school; today almost all American children finish primary school.
• On average, Americans were about four times richer than the people of the world’s poorest countries; they are 100 times richer today.

Poor countries have experienced improvements as well. Over the past 50 years, there has been more progress in reducing poverty and improving health and education than at any other time in history. Over this period:

• Diseases such as smallpox and river blindness that formerly afflicted millions of people a year, often causing disability and death, have been virtually eradicated.
• The average life expectancy worldwide has increased from 47 years in 1955 to 65 years in 2005.
• Many more children attend school. In Sub-Saharan Africa today, 66% of adults have had some formal schooling, up from 28%. In Latin America the average number of years of schooling has risen from 3 to 6 years and in Asia the average number of years has increased from 3 to 9.
• Smallpox disease, which used to kill millions all over the world, was eradicated by a well-coordinated global effort. In West Africa, river blindness was eliminated in over 11 countries where it had afflicted millions, and with the arrival of the polio vaccine in the last century, disability and death due to polio has wiped out polio in most parts of the world.

Much remains to be done. People in many countries do not have access to basic things that Americans take for granted.

• Every year, 11 million children die before their fifth birthday from chronic hunger and related diseases. In addition, 14 million children worldwide have been orphaned by AIDS.
• More than 1 million people a year die from malaria, a preventable disease that has been virtually eradicated in rich countries.
• In India and Pakistan, fewer than half of adult women can read.
• In Ecuador, only one in four poor families has access to running water.
• In Kenya, only 12% of roads are paved, making it hard for farmers and manufacturers to sell their products in their own markets, let alone in global markets.

The world is more interconnected and interdependent than ever. Thanks to dramatic advances in technology, communication and transportation, people, products and ideas travel back and forth with ease and speed across borders. Things that happen in other countries affect us here; and things we do in the U.S. affect people in other countries, particularly where the majority of the population is living in poverty.

We have the ability to make a difference. It makes good sense for us to help the world’s citizens acquire the skills and resources they need to shape their own economic and social development. Because helping them will actually help us – and because it’s the right thing to do.

• AMERICAN VALUES: The United States was founded on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In today’s interconnected world, we have a responsibility to demonstrate these values in our foreign policy by supporting global health, human rights, education, economic opportunity and democracy.
• NATIONAL SECURITY: Poverty, ill-health, and lack of economic opportunity do not lead directly to conflict, crime, or terrorism, but they can create the conditions that make countries more vulnerable to conflict, criminal networks, terrorists, illegal arms dealers, and other destabilizing forces. Peace and stability are affected differently by poverty-related factors depending on the circumstances of the countries concerned.
• ECONOMIC STRENGTH: Trade is an increasingly large part of the U.S.’s economic strength. Over the past 40 years, trade has tripled as a portion of the national economy. Almost 45% of U.S. exports go to developing countries, which means that our economic well-being depends directly on their citizens’ ability to purchase goods from the U.S.

• Americans tend to think that the U.S. spends 24% of its budget on development assistance, and that they would prefer that only 10% be spent in this way. But it turns out that the U.S. spends far less than that! The U.S. budget dedicates less than 1% of total federal spending to development assistance. It’s just a small slice of the pie, much smaller than most people think.
• Over half (53%) of Americans support the growth of global trade in principle, but are not satisfied with the way the U.S. government is dealing with the effects of trade on American jobs, the poor in other countries, and the environment.
• More than three-quarters (78%) of Americans favor helping poor countries develop their economies as a favorable way to fight terrorism.