Mapping Development Aid With Chinese Characteristics

This map displays the added flows of official Chinese foreign financial flows worldwide 2000 - 2023. The width of the links departing from China to other countries corresponds to the total financial flows during the selected period.

To initialize the bar graph below, hover over any country. For better precision, zoom in on the map to hover over certain countries more easily. The AidData Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset is unique in its breadth and scope. It captures 20,985 projects across 165 low- and middle-income countries supported by official sector institutions in China, with loans and grants worth $1.34 trillion, the map may take a minute to load.

In the AidData Dataset, each flow is coded as belonging to a kind of development aid as defined by the OECD Official Development Assistance (ODA) differs from Other Official Flows (OOF) in three ways: 1. The purpose of the project must be of economic development and welfare for the recipient country. 2. The project must take place in the country receiving the funds. 3. The financial flow must be consessional (grant element, discounted loan, scholarship, technical assistance, etc).

Projects not complying with these criteria are coded as OOF and for those with insufficient information 'Vague (Official Finance)'. As shown in the graph, most Chinese financial flows do not fit into the mostly Western definition of Official Development Aid.

For a the next visualization on projects by country click here.