Sweden, Ireland and the U.K. are the top contributors to African development in an index of 21 rich countries created by the Washington based Centre for Global Development.

The U.S.A was in 13^th place on the index, while Japan is bottom of the table for commitment to the development of Africa among the rich nations.

The Commitment to Development Index (CDI), rates the developed countries on the contribution their policies make in helping or hurting developing African societies. The findings of the index this year are that the three countries mentioned above were assisting most in the seven categories looked at.

The rich countries assistance was assessed not only on the amount of foreign aid, but also on the quality and effectiveness of the aid, and their willingness to take goods and other export commodities from African nations.. Environmental factors, and support for peacekeeping, and humanitarian issues were also considered in the formulation of the index. Exporting weapons to undemocratic and authoritarian regimes, and the support for heavy military spending would result in a loss of points on the table.

The league table also took into account migration and investment policies, along with commitments to sharing technology and knowledge. The design of the index was intended to replace the more linear method of measuring only foreign aid as a percentage of GDP.

"Rich nations are linked to Africa in many ways and not just through foreign aid," commented Steve Roodman of the Centre for Global Development (CGD). "If we are serious about helping development in Africa we cannot just look at one piece. We need to look at the whole thing."

Sweden was placed in first position the index due to its good showings in security and aid. Ireland came in at second place following the relatively large numbers of peacekeepers it sent to Liberia, as well as its high aid figures.

Britain took third position, in part because of its consistently large investment portfolio in Africa, high aid, and security promotion. It also was deemed to have friendly environmental and migration policies.

Japan did not fare so well. It is mainly held back by having 800% tariffs on rice, which prevent African rice from competing.

"The Africa CDI depicts Japan as a country that is distinctly more insular and inward-oriented than its economic peers -- which it indisputably is," the report concluded.

The Bush administration’s spurning of the Kyoto Protocol affected its positon.

"That gap, along with high greenhouse emissions and low gas taxes, puts the U.S. last," the study says.

"None of the countries, then, should be content with its performance. All can do better, and especially the low-ranked titans among the G-7 have an opportunity to help Africans much more," the group noted.