U.S. Falls Back In Its Foreign Aid

The United States, once the world leader in aid to developing nations, has dropped to fourth in the amount of money it spends on such aid and is a distant last among donor nations in the percentage of economic output devoted to foreign aid, according to new figures released Monday.

Japan, France and Germany contributed more money to Third World development last year than the United States did. America fell to fourth place from second, behind Japan, in 1994.

The United States also was last among the 21 nations in a committee of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in its share of national output devoted to Third World assistance.

“We should feel ashamed. We are failing to fulfill our responsibilities as a world power,” foreign aid director J. Brian Atwood said Monday.