BERLIN — Under 12 years of Angela Merkel's chancellorship, Germany has emerged as a leader in global development. In 2016, it became the second-highest donor country — overtaking the United Kingdom to come in behind the United States — after hitting the global target of spending 0.7 percent of its gross national income on official development assistance for the first time.
Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union, has touted this rise in the current national election campaigns as evidence of her commitment to human rights and global development issues. Officials expect development assistance to continue to increase under a new Merkel administration if — as is widely anticipated — she retains the chancellorship for another four years after the vote on September 24.