There are 197 countries in the world[footnoteRef:1] in 2019, out of which 126 countries are classified as developing countries[footnoteRef:2]. These countries are characterized by being less developed industrially and having a lower Human Development Index when compared to other countries[footnoteRef:3]. However, developing countries do have the potential for high growth and security when evaluating factors including the standard of living, gross domestic product, and per capita income[footnoteRef:4]. Foreign aid, which is the international transfer of capital, goods, or services, is provided to developing countries to combat issues like poverty, terrorism, natural disasters, and the destruction of the environment[footnoteRef:5]. Foreign aid provision began in 1947 when the US funded over 13 billion dollars to assist in the reconstruction of Europe after World War II, according to the Marshall Plan[footnoteRef:6]. After this, during the
Cold War, both the Soviet Union and the US used foreign aid as a tactic to gain support at home[footnoteRef:7], and within other countries. Even today, foreign aid is provided to developing countries by other countries, or organizations such as IMF[footnoteRef:8] and World Bank[footnoteRef:9] to help in the development of these countries. However, there is great debate about whether foreign aid actually fulfills its purpose or whether is it used by developed countries to improve their diplomatic relations and actually harms developing countries. Advocates of foreign aid argue that foreign aid can save lives and ameliorate suffering, not just in the short term but in the long term[footnoteRef:10]. However, those against foreign aid argue that an influx of foreign aid did not seem to produce economic growth in countries around the world. Rather, lots of foreign aid flowing into a country tended to be correlated with lower economic growth