The rich countries that spend the most on foreign aid

The Daily Mail has made known its displeasure with the foreign aid budget over the past few days...

The Sun also got involved, taking aim at Madagascan fish

But how much do we actually spend in aid, compared to other countries?

The UK was one of only six countries, alongside Denmark, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden which met UN targets to keep foreign aid at or above 0.7 per cent of gross national income.

Development aid totalled £93.1 billion in 2015, a rise of 6.9 per cent from 2014 in real terms.

Aid spent on refugees in host countries more than doubled in real terms for this period.

The below chart from Statista shows new data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), detailing foreign aid spending in 2015 among the group of mostly rich nations:

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said:

Countries have had to find large sums to cover the costs of an historic refugee crisis in Europe, and most have so far avoided diverting money from development programmes. These efforts must continue. We also welcome that more aid is being provided to the poorest countries.

Governments must ensure that development aid keeps rising. They also need to develop long-term options for meeting future refugee costs and the integration of refugees in our societies, while ensuring at the same time that ODA reaches those countries and people that need it the most.

More:Should we really cut the foreign aid budget to pay for flood defences, as Nigel Farage says?

More:A map showing country size based on the amount they receive in US foreign aid

More:The five biggest recipients of foreign aid from the UK