The Human Truth Foundation

Charity Across the World

http://www.vexen.co.uk/countries/charity.html

By Vexen Crabtree 2023

#charity #politics


1. Which Countries' People Show Most Personal Charitability?1

#charity #finland #morals #norway #politics #sweden

World Giving Index
Higher is better
2
Pos.2022
%2
2010s
Avg3
1Indonesia68.049.0
2Kenya61.046.6
3USA59.059.2
4Australia55.057.8
5New Zealand54.058.0
6Myanmar (Burma)52.060.0
7Sierra Leone51.041.9
8Canada51.056.1
9Zambia50.038.6
10Ukraine49.024.4
q=125.

The World Giving Index is produced annually by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). It produces statistical counts of individual charitable acts in three categories: the helping of strangers, donations to charity and volunteer work. The system is biased towards grassroots-charitability and because of this, it is not wise to draw moral conclusions from the data. Some countries have a top-down approach to social aid. For example, in highly socialist countries such as Finland, Norway and Sweden the government itself is paid by citizens (through very high taxes) to engage in a lot of social work. Therefore, there is a culture in which individuals feel they already contribute to charity through a centralized and well-funded charitable social safety net: but this kind of contribution isn't reflected in the WGI. Some of those countries do score highest in measurements of how much aid is given to developing countries. Conversely, some of the lowest-ranking countries are clearly suffering from extreme poverty, and may lack the infrastructure that lets people volunteer time or give to charity.

Nonetheless, it reflects greatly on the culture of Indonesia, Kenya, USA, Australia and New Zealand2 that their populace perform so charitably towards one-another. The chart on the right also shows that average scores for all countries throughout the 2010s; the most charitable were Myanmar (Burma), USA, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland3.

2. Which Regions of the World are Long-Term Most Generous? 4

#charity #morals

For the past decade, average results by region can be seen in the charts below. Note that there was no WGI in 2019, as they produced a 10th-anniversary meta-analysis in that year. The historical data for previous decades only includes countries if they had at least four data points during that period.

World Giving Index 2010-20183
AreaHigher is better
Avg3
Highest Countries
Africa...30.7Kenya (46.6 Avg), Liberia (43.5 Avg) and Mauritius (43.0 Avg)
Asia...33.7Myanmar (Burma) (60.0 Avg), Sri Lanka (51.4 Avg) and Indonesia (49.0 Avg)
Australasia57.9New Zealand (58.0 Avg) and Australia (57.8 Avg)
Europe...31.7Ireland (56.8 Avg), UK (54.3 Avg) and Netherlands (53.1 Avg)
North America39.5USA (59.2 Avg), Canada (56.1 Avg) and Trinidad & Tobago (47.0 Avg)
South America29.7Chile (37.7 Avg), Colombia (35.3 Avg) and Bolivia (31.9 Avg)
The Middle East...33.5Qatar (47.0 Avg), UAE (45.1 Avg) and Kuwait (42.7 Avg)
World33.1Myanmar (Burma) (60.0 Avg), USA (59.2 Avg) and New Zealand (58.0 Avg)

Click the col header to sort.

3. All Countries (Current and Decade Averages)

#charity #morals

World Giving Index
Higher is better
2
Pos.2022
%2
2010s
Avg3
1Indonesia68.049.0
2Kenya61.046.6
3USA59.059.2
4Australia55.057.8
5New Zealand54.058.0
6Myanmar (Burma)52.060.0
7Sierra Leone51.041.9
8Canada51.056.1
9Zambia50.038.6
10Ukraine49.024.4
11Ireland49.056.8
12Czechia48.023.2
13Nigeria48.041.9
14Thailand48.043.2
15Guinea47.033.4
16UK47.054.3
17Brazil47.028.0
18UAE47.045.1
19Philippines47.039.2
20Argentina47.028.1
21Poland47.026.7
22Serbia46.018.3
23Netherlands46.053.1
24Jamaica46.040.6
25Russia46.020.2
26Iceland46.047.3
27Honduras46.035.4
28Mongolia46.038.3
29Denmark46.045.2
30Uganda46.037.8
31Bahrain45.040.8
32Malta45.047.6
33Singapore45.036.1
34Macedonia45.025.1
35Venezuela45.022.2
36Norway45.047.3
37Austria45.044.9
38Sri Lanka44.051.4
39Ethiopia44.025.6
40Bosnia & Herzegovina44.023.9
41Paraguay44.031.6
42Dominican Rep.44.039.9
43Kyrgyzstan44.032.2
44Mexico44.028.2
45Costa Rica44.038.4
46Vietnam43.026.0
47Iran43.042.3
48Kosovo43.030.1
49Bolivia43.031.9
50Ghana43.037.4
q=125.
World Giving Index
Higher is better
2
Pos.2022
%2
2010s
Avg3
51Sweden42.040.3
52Colombia42.035.3
53China42.015.0
54Ecuador42.023.8
55Bulgaria41.019.1
56Slovakia41.025.0
57Germany41.043.9
58Nepal40.032.8
59Malaysia40.038.4
60Nicaragua40.029.9
61Senegal40.028.4
62Estonia40.024.8
63Uruguay40.030.4
64Turkey40.018.2
65Hungary40.023.3
66India40.024.9
67Cyprus40.041.6
68Malawi39.038.3
69Slovenia39.038.6
70Burkina Faso39.024.9
71Tajikistan39.035.6
72Peru39.028.1
73Uzbekistan38.040.6
74Chile38.037.7
75Mali38.023.8
76Switzerland37.045.7
77Finland37.042.0
78Hong Kong37.044.7
79Cameroon37.032.2
80Iraq37.034.0
81Croatia37.020.6
82Moldova37.025.8
83Israel37.038.9
84Mauritius37.043.0
85Lithuania37.018.7
86Panama36.035.6
87El Salvador36.024.4
88Saudi Arabia36.034.9
89S. Africa35.035.2
90Ivory Coast35.025.3
91Congo, (Brazzaville)35.027.3
92Namibia35.0
93Togo34.021.2
94Mozambique34.026.3
95Albania34.022.6
96Montenegro34.019.9
97Kazakhstan34.027.0
98Gabon34.027.0
99Taiwan34.035.9
100Bangladesh33.025.3
q=125.
World Giving Index
Higher is better
2
Pos.2022
%2
2010s
Avg3
101Tanzania33.032.1
102Spain32.032.0
103Benin32.022.3
104Jordan32.025.0
105France32.030.4
106Greece32.016.8
107Georgia31.020.6
108Morocco31.026.1
109Zimbabwe31.028.3
110Romania30.024.2
111Algeria30.022.4
112Pakistan29.029.7
113Latvia29.023.5
114Italy29.033.1
115Armenia29.021.0
116Tunisia28.023.8
117Laos27.0
118Portugal26.025.7
119Lebanon24.031.0
120Egypt23.023.9
121S. Korea22.033.6
122Afghanistan21.031.9
123Belgium21.037.0
124Japan20.024.5
125Cambodia19.024.9
q=125.

For more international statistics, see: "What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life" by Vexen Crabtree (2020).

4. Aid to Developing Countries (2005-2006)

#belgium #denmark #finland #japan #luxembourg #netherlands #norway #sweden #switzerland #UK #USA

The United Nations Human Development Report (2005) includes statistics on the amount of aid given to developing countries. It is shown as percent of the Gross National Income, so it includes both aid given by corporations and by individuals. The Report notes how the countries of the G7 - the richest industrial countries - dominate the global aid flow. It also notes how the most generous five countries, all above the UN's target of 0.7% GNI, are all small countries - Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands who have all "consistently met or surpassed the UN target". Japan has only recently fallen to such a low position (third from the bottom), nearly as stingy as the USA.

The United Nations Report analyses how to make aid-giving worthwhile and usable and does not just concentrate on quantity of aid. There are factors which reduce the usability of aid, including corruption and unpredictability of aid quantities. Yet, "perhaps the most egregious undermining of efficient aid is the practice of tying financial transfers to the purchase of services and goods from the donating countries." This kind of "tied" aid is selfish and counterproductive.

The most generous countries are also the ones that do not tend to tie aid to their own products and services. The stingiest countries also, almost spitefully and nastily, force countries to buy their own services and products with the aid they give; which reduces free trade and commerce and harms the country's economy, as well as being simply selfish and conceited. Thankfully, many countries do not tie their aid. Countries that tie less than 10% of aid include Ireland, Norway and the UK, then Belgium, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden. The USA is the worst, and ties nearly 90% of its aid to developing countries. Italy is the second worst with 70%. The two worst countries for this obnoxious practice in aid-giving are also the two countries out of the most developed countries, who give least generously!

The Center for Global Development compared the 21 richest nations, measuring a broad range of factors and policies to arrive at their values. "The CGD's report measures a broad number of factors for the index, rather than merely the amount of aid countries provide. It also examines several policy areas - such as trade investment migration and environment - while aid is measured not only in terms of quantity but as a share of its income and the quality of aid given "5.

The index penalized countries for selling arms to undemocratic governments (the theory being that these harm 'the poor'). The CGD came to same conclusions as the United Nations' Human Development Report on US aid being 'tied' to US commercial goods:

Despite the US giving the largest amount of aid that donation was the smallest in relation to the size of its economy. The CGD added that a lot of the money was also contingent on the purchase of US goods, and so was in fact a "backdoor subsidy for American interests".

"Netherlands 'does most for poor'" by BBC News (2006)5

For more international comparisons, see: "What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life" by Vexen Crabtree (2020).