Donald Trump says he pulled out of the World Health Organization because it's unfair to the US. We pay dues of $500 million per year while China pays only $39 million. Bob Somerby wants a fact check.

Sure, why not. WHO works on a two-year budgeting cycle, so I've cut the numbers in half to get annual figures:

Hmmm. What's going on? Well, these are only the assessed contributions, which countries are required to pay. The US also makes voluntary contributions to programs it has a special interest in, like infectious diseases and polio eradication. When you add that in, we contribute a lot more:

Both of these figures are correct. You can use whichever one you want. But the US isn't required to pay $500 million per year. We do it freely.

POSTSCRIPT: Overall, the US pays about 14% of the WHO's budget. We account for a little more than 25% of the world's GDP.

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