Japan

Aid

Aid quality is just as important as aid quantity, so the CDI adjusts gross aid as a share of GDP for various quality factors: it subtracts debt service, penalizes "tied" aid (making recipients spend aid money only on donor goods and services), rewards aid to poor but relatively un-corrupt recipients (and vice versa), and penalizes overloading poor governments with many small projects.

• Score: 1.4
• Rank: 21

• Strong on project proliferation (less than 1% of Japanese development projects cost under $100,000; rank: 5)
• Small share of tied aid (3%; rank: 7)

• Very low net aid volume as a share of GDP (0.13%; rank: 21)
• Small amount of private charitable giving attributable to tax policy (rank as a share of GDP: 15)

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries.

• Score: -0.2
• Rank: 21

• Low agricultural subsidies (rank: 2)

• High total aggregate protection of agricultural commodities (rank: 21)
• High tariffs on agriculture (rank: 21)
• High barriers against apparel (rank: 17)

Investment

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management, and create jobs. The CDI includes a checklist of policies that support healthy and productive investment in developing countries.

Japan Overall

• Score: 5.1
• Rank: 15

• NA

• Limited political risk insurance coverage
• Restrictions on pension fund investments in emerging markets

Migration

The movement of people from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income, and knowledge. All of this increases the growth and flow of remittances while abroad and the transfer of training and skills when the migrants return home.

• Score: 1.8
• Rank: 20

• Large share of foreign students from developing countries (95%; rank: 1)

• Decline during the 1990s in the total number of unskilled immigrants living from developing countries in Japan (rank as a share of population: 21)
• Small number of immigrants from developing countries entering Japan in 2003 (rank as a share of population: 15)
• Bears small share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises (rank: 21)

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources and poor countries are most likely to be hurt by global warming and ecological deterioration, so the CDI measures the impact of environmental policies on the global climate, sustainable fisheries, and biodiversity.

• Score: 3.7
• Rank: 21

• Low greenhouse gas emission rate per capita (11 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 8)
• Low coffee imports (3.0 kg per capita; rank: 6)

• Small decrease in greenhouse gas emission rate between 1999-2003 (average annual growth rate/PPP GDP, -0.4%; rank: 19)
• Low gas taxes (rank: 17)
• High fishing subsidies ($23.28 per person; rank: 18)
• No ratification of UN Fisheries Agreement
• High tropical wood imports (rank: 21)

Security

Based on the notion that security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, rewards military protection of global sea lanes, and penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.

• Score: 2.8
• Rank: 18

• No arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments

• Small financial or personnel contribution to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions (overall contribution rank over last 10 years as share of GDP: 21)
• No protection of global sea lanes

Technology

Rich countries can contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI captures this by measuring government support for R&D and analyzing the strength of intellectual property rights regimes.

• Score: 5.0
• Rank: 12

• High business expenditure on R&D as a share of GDP (rank: 3)  
• No attempt to incorporate “TRIPS-Plus” policies in bilateral free trade agreements with developing countries

• Allows patents on plant and animal varieties
• Allows patents on software programs
• Strict limitations on anti-circumvention technologies that can defeat encryption of copyrighted digital materials