Finland ranks 3rd on Commitment to Development Index

Finland ranked third on the annual Commitment to Development Index (CDI) announced by the Centre for Global Development on Tuesday.

Two other Nordic countries – Sweden and Denmark – secured the first and second places respectively on the index which ranks 27 of the world’s richest countries by how well their policies help improve lives in the developing world.

Finland shared the third place with Germany followed by Luxemburg, the Netherlands, France and United Kingdom.

South Korea was at the bottom on the list followed by Greece, Poland, Japan and the United States.

News Agency Xinhua adds: The CDI is released annually by the Centre for Global Development. It is a quantitative, broad based analytical tool that measures contributions of advanced economies in seven policy areas: aid, finance, technology, environment, trade, security, and migration.

Within each component, countries are measured on how their domestic policies and actions support poor countries in their efforts to build prosperity, good governance, and security.

“Good development policy is about much more than foreign aid,” said CDI President Masood Ahmed. “While aid is important, policy-makers in rich countries need to assess all the ways their choices, from the environment to trade to migration, help or hinder developing countries.”

The world’s biggest economy, the United States, ranks 23 on the list.