While most people hate to waste their hard earned money…EVERYONE hates to see someone else waste their hard earned money.

Take our government for example… and foreign aid.

What percentage of the budget do you think the United States spends on foreign aid? 15%? Maybe even 30%?

Try less than 1%.

For comparison’s sake, Social Security is 22%, Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) are 21%, and Defense is at 19%.

In a 2013 survey, Americans guess that 28% of the federal budget was used on foreign aid. With that, 61% surveyed thought we spent too much on foreign aid. This opinion dramatically shifted the other way when true percent spent was known.

So how is this 1% spent?

USAID, the United Staid Agency for International Development, has spent some of its 1% of the budget on providing food assistance in the war-torn Central African Republic (“Violence, Child Soldiers, Kony and CAR” or vaccination programs for kids affected by the Syrian crisis (“Syria: Already Forgotten?”)

There are arguments that foreign aid does not help and is a waste of American citizens’ tax dollars. Others argue that it is the moral obligation of the United States to help other countries in need.

Regardless of the view, no valid argument can be made until citizens are fully aware of where there money goes.

In a recent Reddit interview, Bill Gates ended with final question,

“How can we help more people understand that foreign aid isn’t 25% or even 10% of the U.S. federal budget, but less than 1%?”