Sometimes people who have less, give more. That seems to be one of the lessons from a recent Gallup poll which asked people in 140 countries about their charitable spending habits to find out which country’s people were the most generous. These are the surprising results:
And here they are in chart form:
That’s right, Indonesia was ranked as the secound most generous country in the world. When asked if they had given to a charity in the last 30 days, a whopping 75% of Indonesians said they had, putting them above the citizens of countries with much higher average incomes such as the Netherlands, United Kingdoms and New Zealand.
But far ahead of all those countries and Indonesia is Myanmar. Despite having a per capita GDP of just USD $824 per person (compared to $3,843 per person in Indonesia and $53,000 in the United States) 91% of Burmese reported giving to charity in the last month. Some analysts speculate their their generosity is at least partly attributable to the Buddhist principle of Sangha Dana, which teaches that giving and generosity in this life can bring you rewards in the next.
In Indonesia, the Islamic concept of zakat, or alms-giving, may be at least partially responsible for our people’s high level of generosity.
The data is based on the results of the Gallup 2016 Global Civic Engagement Report, which measures people’s answers to questions about their inclination to give their time, money or assistance to others in needs. The report is based on more than 145,000 interviews with adults in 140 countries in 2015.
