The CAF World Giving Index is scored by averaging the percentage of people in each country who donated money, volunteered or helped a stranger in the previous month.
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What is more startling is that the accolade is shared with Myanmar, a nation ranked 151 spots lower than the USA on the GDP per capita scale.
Despite their highly developed economies, only five G20 countries are in this year’s Top 20, reminding us that economic prosperity does not automatically lead to a rise in generosity.
The CAF found that more than 334 million Indians helped a stranger, over 183 million gave money and more than 156 million volunteered their time.
Ireland was ranked the ninth most generous country of the 145 countries surveyed, coming out as the third most generous country in Europe.
India was found to have the largest number of people giving to charity (184 million) followed by the United States (164 million), Indonesia (121 million) and China (92 million).
The report is published three weeks before GivingTuesday, the worldwide day of giving, which comes to the United Kingdom for the second time on 1st December, and which is being co-ordinated by CAF. Myanmar earned its top place mainly due to the fact that almost all of the respondents, 91%, donated money to charity, a practice which is ingrained in the country’s Theravada Buddhist community.
Tuesday’s report highlighted the contrast between Myanmar’s achievement and “recent reports about the suffering and contested rights of the Rohingya people”, the persecuted Muslim minority group. Of course, people may be inclined to exaggerate their generous spirit in a survey, but Hart says the questions are phrased in such a way to help prevent that.
In Africa, Kenya has moved 18 places up this year, ranking 15th in the global index.
A year ago the World Giving Index reported a decrease in those under 30 giving time, money or helping a stranger. In the United States, meanwhile, the proportion of people reporting a donation dropped to 63 percent, from 68 percent.
Check out the most charitable countries in the world below. Fifteen G-20 countries are outside the top 50, with six of these outside the top 100.
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You can download the full CAF World Giving Index 2015 report from Charities Aid Foundation.
