International development, in theory, is a way in which developed nations can help those that are still developing, working towards alleviated poverty, increased education, and more equitable economic interaction. Aid is not only distributed by individual nations, however, but also by collections of nations, such as the European Union, and by non-governmental organizations. Based on this definition, and the numbers of parties involved, it could be expected that money for development would spread itself out around the globe roughly according to need. In this case indicators of development, such as the United Nations Human Development Index, should be useful in predicting which countries should be the largest donors of aid and which should be the largest aid receivers. While this is largely true, it is not the only factor that determines aid distribution.

When development aid is distributed by countries, the result is often a varied map, with some countries being given more than what would be expected, and others less. Clear patterns of development aid distribution can be seen, often echoing colonial relationships. It would be expected, for example, that the United Kingdom would be a significant contributor of aid to former colonies such as India, and that France would be heavily involved in West Africa. For countries like the United States and Japan, however, with different patterns of world involvement, the results may be less intuitive, but they are just as obvious upon visualization.

This project aims to take a first step towards identifying the relationships that become apparent through flows of development aid, first identifying where money should be going, according to indicators such as the Human Development Index, then analyzing whether actual aid flows parallel those patterns, and seeing where they differ most drastically. Finally, this project will look at the roles of some of the largest donators of aid on a global scale, to see how patterns of distribution differ.

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