U.S. airmen offload cargo on Jan. 15, 2010, at the Port-au-Prince airport in Haiti to support relief efforts after a devastating earthquake. (U.S. Air Force/ Joshua L. DeMotts)
My sister had perhaps the best comment I’ve heard about the ongoing disaster in Haiti: “Those poor people can’t seem to catch a break.”
And poor they are. Americans – many of whom have not traveled to less developed countries or, if they have, have only visited upscale resorts or well-tended tourist destinations – may have little conception of precisely how poor a country like Haiti is.
The numbers are stark. Haiti has a population of about nine million. Its gross domestic product, or GDP, is roughly $11.5 billion. This suggests a per capita GDP in the vicinity of $1,300, making it the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Mexico’s per capita GDP is about $14,000 and Brazil’s about $10,000; even impoverished Bolivia has a per capita GDP that, at $4,500, is several times larger than Haiti.
What about the United States? We have a population of about 300 million, a GDP of $11.4 trillion, and a per capita GDP of $47,000. Using a rough but still illustrative measure, Americans are perhaps 35 times richer per person than Haitians. Even before the catastrophe of January 12, most Haitians experienced privation unimaginable to most Americans.
Haitian GDP is simply dwarfed by the overall US federal expenditures of $3 trillion. It’s equal, roughly, to the monthly cost of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; it represents less than two weeks of our expenditures on Medicare. Any assistance we are likely to provide Haiti, however generous, will be a drop in our fiscal bucket.
Here’s an interesting statistic that sums up the relative wealth of the two countries: as a nation, we spend more, annually, on pet food than the entire economic output of Haiti. Or another: compensation for employees of top U.S. banks in 2009 is estimated to be 10 times Haitian GDP.
The bottom line: Haiti is not just a poor country. It’s a very poor country. And the United States, despite the recession, is not just a rich country. We’re a very rich country. Our governmental relief efforts – and those of other wealthy countries – should be judged in light of these facts. So should the individual contributions of affluent Americans.
Joe Barnes is the Baker Institute’s Bonner Means Baker Fellow. From 1979 to 1993, he was a career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State, serving in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.