The World’s Most
Generous Countries

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The World’s Most Generous Countries

From Gallup’s Global Managing Partner
The World’s Most Generous Countries

The United States is often considered the most generous country in the world.
The reason? Americans donate a lot of money. Its people, its foundations and its
companies donated roughly $410 billion in 2017 — or about 2.1% of its own GDP. In
fact, the amount Americans donated was more than the entire GDP of all but about 40
countries in the world.
Jon Clifton

Global Managing
Partner, Gallup

Some might argue that America’s generosity is made easy because of its wealth. And
that if people in other countries could give more, they would.
So what if we had a metric for that? And instead of looking at how much people give,
we look at how many people in a country give? And what if we looked at more thanmoney — such as the number of people who volunteer their time or help a stranger?
Gallup does just that. Each year, Gallup conducts surveys in more than 140 countries
to answer those questions. In our latest survey, we find that the most generous
countries by this metric are Indonesia and Australia — followed closely by the UnitedStates and New Zealand.
Regardless of who you think are the most generous countries in the world, thisreport suggests one important thing: You don’t need to be rich to give back. Somecountries where people have far less to give are among the most generous. Indonesia,
Kenya and Myanmar all rank among the highest in the world on Gallup’s Civic
Engagement Index.
The report also sheds light on how generous the whole world is. With all the reports
about crime, war and terrorism served up daily in the media, it may surprise you to findout how many people are actively working to make the world a better place. Almost
1 billion people reported volunteering their time to an organization in the past month,nearly 1.4 billion said they donated money to a charity and more than 2 billion reported
helping a stranger in need.
While it’s not their primary motivation, the 2 billion people working to make theworld a better place will also be helping themselves in the process. Recent researchdemonstrates that being charitable with your time and money boosts yourown wellbeing.
As people in a number of countries look forward to their own holiday season this year,
many will celebrate by giving. The World’s Most Generous Countries Report showsthat they won’t be alone in their endeavor to make the world a better place.

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Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

The World’s Most Generous Countries

Global Civic Engagement
Every year, Gallup asks three questions to assess people’s inclination to give their money,
time or assistance to others in need:

Asked adults in

146 countries
Have you done any of the following in the past month? How about:• donated money to a charity?

• volunteered your time to an organization?

• helped a stranger or someone you didn’t know who needed help?

These questions are designed to measure residents’ commitment to the communities
they live in and to help governments, businesses and organizations better understand the
population of potential volunteers.
Gallup sees strong relationships between people’s answers to these questions andexternal measures related to the economic environment, such as per capita GDP (PPP)and long-term unemployment, as well as measures that are indicative of wealthiercommunities, such as healthcare expenditures.
This report, based on more than 153,000 interviews with adults in 146 countries in2017 , presents the results from Gallup’s latest analysis of people’s responses to thesethree questions.

IN 2017 WORLDWIDE, NEARLY:

1.4 billion donated money to a charity
1 billlion volunteered their time to an organization
2.2 billion helped a stranger in need in the past month2

Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

The World’s Most Generous Countries

Billions Worldwide Are Helping Others
In 2017, Gallup asked adults in 146 countries whether they had donated money to a charity, volunteered time to anorganization or helped a stranger in need within the past month. On average, more than four in 10 people worldwide
said they had helped a stranger or someone they didn’t know who was in need (43%), while far fewer said they had
donated money (27%) or had volunteered their time (18%). These figures have been stable for the past decade.
Projected to the entire adult population of the world, this means that billions of people are helping others: In
2017, nearly 1.4 billion had donated money to a charity, almost 1 billion had volunteered their time to anorganization and 2.2 billion had helped a stranger in need in the past month.
Civic Engagement Worldwide in 2017

LOW

HIGH

Gallup compiles the “positive” responses to these three questions into a Civic Engagement Index score for eachcountry. The higher the score, the higher the proportion of the population that is civically engaged. The index score
for the world overall in 2017 is 30 out of a possible 100.
Country scores ranged widely, from a high of 59 in Indonesia and Australia to a low of 15 in Yemen. Indonesia andAustralia have consistently appeared in the top 10 countries with the highest civic engagement scores in the past
several years, and their scores in 2017 were not much different from 2016.

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Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

The World’s Most Generous Countries

Although Gallup finds a strong connection between
the Civic Engagement Index and per capita GDP,the countries with the most civically engaged
populations in the world are not always the wealthiest.
Lower middle-income Indonesia topped the list in
2017, and lower middle-income countries Kenya
and Myanmar also made an appearance among thecountries with the highest scores on the index.

Highest Civic Engagement Index
Means (0 = lowest score, 100 = highest score)
Index Score

Myanmar, in fact, has been at the top of this list for
years. The country’s strong Buddhist traditions,which stress donating to and volunteering at
temples, are usually reflected in the majorities who
typically respond positively to each question. In
2017, this was only true for monetary donations
to charity — 88% of Myanmar residents said thatthey had donated money to a charity — the highest
percentage in the world last year.

Indonesia

59

Australia

59

New Zealand

58

United States

58

Ireland

56

United Kingdom

55

Singapore

54

Kenya

54

Myanmar54

Bahrain

53
Gallup World Poll, 2017

The percentage of Myanmar residents who reported
helping strangers and volunteering their time, on theother hand, dropped to new lows in 2017, as theircountry struggled with the Rohingya refugee crisis.
Four in 10 Myanmar residents said they had helped astranger (40%) and one in three (34%) said they had
volunteered their time.

Lowest Civic Engagement Index Score
Means (0 = lowest score, 100 = highest score)
Index Score

The top of the list in 2017 also included a number ofwealthy Western countries where residents may bebetter positioned to give — such as the U.S., United
Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Macedonia

20

Turkey20

Croatia

20

Some of the countries and territories where
populations were the least civically engaged were
those that continue to suffer from economic andpolitical upheaval, such as Yemen, the Palestinian
Territories and Greece. However, with a score of 17
in 2017, civic engagement levels continued to beamong the lowest in the world in China.

Mauritania

20

Laos

20

Tunisia20

Afghanistan

19

Latvia19

Lithuania

19

Azerbaijan

18

Cambodia18

Palestinian Territories

17

China

17

Greece

17

Yemen

15

On the other side of a new law that eased restrictions
on charitable organizations’ fundraising in China in
2016, China’s score on the index improved from 11
in 2015 to 17 in 2017. The 14% of Chinese who
donated money to charity in 2017 is nearly double
the 8% who said they did the previous year.

Gallup World Poll, 2017

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Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

The World’s Most Generous Countries

Myanmar Residents Continue to Be Most Likely to Donate Money to Charity
Myanmar’s consistently high scores on the Civic Engagement Index over the past few years have been bolsteredby its nearly universal percentages of adults who reported donating money to charity. This percentage has beenin the low 90% range since 2013 and was 88% in 2017. This is lower than in previous years, but still by far thehighest percentage in the world that year.
Donated Money to Charity in 2017

For the most part, the top of the list looked the same in 2017 as it has for the past several years, with Myanmar,
Indonesia and Australia clustered near the top.
Most Likely to Donate Money to Charity

MyanmarIndonesia
Australia

New ZealandUnited Kingdom
Netherlands
Iceland

NorwayIreland
Malta

Least Likely to Donate Money to Charity

Yes, donated88%

Azerbaijan

71%

Congo (Brazzaville)

78%

Botswana

68%

Mauritania

68%

Greece66%

Palestinian Territories

65%

Tunisia

65%

Afghanistan

64%

Georgia64%

Lesotho

MoroccoYemen

Gallup World Poll, 2017
5

Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

Yes, donated

8%
8%
8%
8%
7%
7%
7%
6%
6%
5%
5%

2%

The World’s Most Generous Countries

Worldwide, People More Likely to Give Money Than Volunteer Their Time
Adults worldwide continued to be less likely to give their time (18%) than they were to give their money (27%) or tohelp a stranger in need (43%). A majority in just one country, Indonesia, said they had volunteered their time to anorganization in the past month; 53% of Indonesians said they had done this.
Volunteered Time in 2017

The percentage of adults saying they had donated their time to an organization varied widely around the world,from as high as 53% in Indonesia to as low as 4% in Laos.
Most Likely to Volunteer Time to an Organization

Least Likely to Volunteer Time to an Organization

Yes, volunteered in past month
Indonesia
Liberia
Kenya
Sri Lanka
Australia
Ireland
New ZealandSingapore
United States
Mauritius

Yes, volunteered in past month53%

Albania

45%

China

47%

Bosnia and Herzegovina

45%

Ivory Coast

40%

Greece40%

Cambodia

40%

Egypt

39%

Romania

39%

Serbia38%

Yemen
Bulgaria
Macedonia

Gallup World Poll, 2017

Laos
6

Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
5%
5%
4%

The World’s Most Generous Countries

7

Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

The World’s Most Generous Countries

Worldwide, People Most Likely to Help a Stranger
Of all the charitable activities that Gallup asks about, people worldwide continued to be most likely to say they had
helped a stranger or someone they didn’t know who was in need (43%). The percentage saying they had done soin the past month varied worldwide, from a high of 83% in Libya to a low of 18% in Cambodia.
Helped a Stranger in 2017

Except for the United States, which narrowly made the list of countries where people are most likely to have helped
a stranger in the past month, the countries at the top of this list are all located in North or sub-Saharan Africa andthe Middle East.
Most Likely to Help a Stranger

Least Likely to Help a Stranger
Yes, helped a stranger

Yes, helped a stranger

Libya

83%

Belarus

31%

Iraq

81%

China

31%

Kuwait

80%

India

31%

Liberia80%

Macedonia

30%

Sierra Leone80%

Latvia28%

Bahrain74%

Czech Republicw

26%

The Gambia

74%

Croatia25%

Saudi Arabia

74%

Japan

23%

Kenya

72%

Laos

22%

South Africa

72%

Cambodia18%

United States

72%

Gallup World Poll, 20178

Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

The World’s Most Generous Countries

Methodology
These results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000 adults per country,
aged 15 and older, conducted throughout 2017 in 146 countries. For results based on the total sample of national
adults, the margin of sampling error ranges from ±2.0 percentage points to ±5.4 percentage points at the 95%
confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.
For more complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup’s Country Data Set details.

1,000

146

ADULTSPER COUNTRY

COUNTRIES AND
AREAS INTERVIEWED

AGED

15+
95%

CONFIDENCELEVEL

TELEPHONE
INTERVIEWS2017
SURVEY

9

Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

FACE-TO-FACE
INTERVIEWS

The World’s Most Generous Countries

2017 Civic Engagement Index
Index score
Indonesia
Australia
New ZealandUnited States
IrelandUnited Kingdom
Singapore
Kenya
MyanmarBahrain
Netherlands
United Arab Emirates
NorwayHaiti
CanadaNigeria
Iceland
Malta
Liberia
Sierra Leone
ZambiaGermany
Trinidad & Tobago
Denmark
Mauritius
Switzerland
Sri Lanka
Libya
Iran
Hong Kong
The Gambia
Austria
KuwaitIraq
CyprusTajikistan
Ghana
IsraelBelgiumSouth Africa
Luxembourg
SwedenTurkmenistan
FinlandMongolia
Honduras
Slovenia
South Sudan
Dominican Republic

Index score

59

Uganda

58

Nepal

59
58

Spain

54

Jamaica

55
54
54
53
51
51
50
49
49
48
48
47
47
47
46
46
46
46
46
45
45
45
45
44
44
44
43
43
43
42
42
42
41
41
41
41
40
40
39
39
39
39
39

Ethiopia

37

Peru

36

Uzbekistan

56

39
37

Saudi Arabia

MalawiCongo (Kinshasa)

36

RwandaParaguay35
34
34

South Korea

34

Chile

34

Thailand34

Costa Rica

34

Cameroon

34

Taiwan34

Guatemala33

Kosovo33

Nicaragua
Italy
Central African Republic
Guinea

33
32
32
32

Niger

32

France32

Namibia

31

Bangladesh

30

Jordan30

Zimbabwe

30

Uruguay30

Panama29

Mozambique

29

Colombia

29

Ukraine29

Burkina Faso

28

Portugal

28

Tanzania

28

Lebanon28

Bolivia28

Senegal28

Slovakia
Philippines
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Pakistan

28
28
28
28

Algeria

28

Mali

28

Argentina

28

Lesotho28

Kazakhstan

27

Botswana
10

Copyright © 2018 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.

27
27

Madagascar
Chad

35

27

Moldova36
36

Kyrgyzstan

Index score

27
27

Romania26
26

Morocco

26

Benin

26

Egypt

26

Venezuela

26

Albania

26

Estonia
RussiaIvory Coast
PolandMexicoCongo (Brazzaville)
Montenegro
Togo

24
24
24
24
24
24

Ecuador23

Hungary

23

Belarus23

Brazil23

Armenia
India
Czech Republic
Bulgaria
El Salvador
Japan
SerbiaMacedonia
Turkey

22
22
22
22
22
21
20
20
20

Croatia20

Mauritania

20

Laos
Tunisia
Afghanistan
Latvia

20
19
19
19

Lithuania

18

Azerbaijan
Cambodia
Palestinian Territories

Yemen

25

24

Georgia

Greece

25

24

Gabon

China

27

18
17
17
17
15

Gallup World Poll, 2017