The decade of the sixties saw more than the normal quota of paradox and contradiction, and attitudes toward the economic development of the poor nations and the relationship between rich and poor nations were no exception. In. the realization that economic development was one of the world's critical problems, the United Nations titled the sixties the "decade of development" and set a goal of a five per cent annual increase in gross national product (G.N.P.) for the poor countries. This growth was to be achieved primarily by greater effort on their part, but was to be significantly aided by rich countries which would provide one per cent of their G.N.P. as assistance.