Australia in Top Five Most Generous Countries
10 November 2015 at 5:26 pm
Increased levels of giving over the past year have pushed Australia into the top five of the world’s most charitable countries, according to a leading report on global generosity.
Myanmar, the United States, New Zealand and Canada all ranked ahead of Australia in the Charities Aid Foundation World Giving Index 2015, released Wednesday.
The Index showed that 72 per cent of Australians gave money to charity in 2014 – up six percentage points on the previous year.
Australians have also become more generous with their time, with 40 per cent of people surveyed having volunteered in the previous month – up three percentage points on 2013.
Two-thirds of Australians, 66 per cent, said they had helped a stranger in the past month, maintaining the score recorded in last year’s Index. People aged between 30 and 49 were most likely to have helped a stranger.
Chief Executive of CAF Australia, Lisa Grinham, said the report highlighted new giving demographics.
“Australia is one of the most generous countries in the world and it is fantastic that people are donating money in ever greater numbers,” Grinham said.
“One of the really encouraging things shown in this report is that there has been a big increase in giving among young people. For example there has been a 10 per cent increase of ‘helping a stranger’ over the last four years.
“We now need to help nurture this generosity as we move towards a sustained approach to giving in this country, which will benefit all kinds of voluntary organisations.”
The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Malaysia also made the top ten in global rankings.
Overall, the world’s most generous countries are among the most deprived. The research showed just five of the World Giving Index top 20 are members of the G-20 – the world’s largest economies.
This year’s report also showed that on a global level, while people have become more likely to donate money to charity or help a stranger, they are less likely to volunteer their time.
The annual CAF World Giving Index is based on surveys in 145 countries carried out by Gallup. Download the full report here.
