Despite our general reputation of being unfriendly, uptight folks, it appears to be that Singaporeans are actually pretty benevolent. At least, according to British charity Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) which placed Singapore in the seventh spot in its list of the most generous countries in the world.
CAF Chief Executive Sir John Low found a “welcome reversal of the decline in giving” in this year’s World Giving Index, heartened by the levels of generosity with millions more people helping others and volunteering their time. The rankings are determined by the averaging of responses from interviews conducted in each country — respondents are asked if they’ve helped a stranger, donated money to a charity or volunteered with an organization.
Out of 144 nations listed, Indonesia is considered to be the most generous country in the world. Australia trails behind in second place and New Zealand lands in third. Alongside Singapore (7th), the likes of United Kingdom (6th), the United States (4th), Kenya (8th) and Bahrain (10th) also clinched spots in the top 10.
Singapore, in particular, made its debut in the index’s top-tier, becoming one of this year’s most improved countries by improving its score by 13 percent from last year. Five years ago was a very different landscape of generosity in the Little Red Dot, having ranked as low as 64th place.
“Within Singapore, this has been driven by increases in volunteering and helping a stranger, which may be a result of a number of schemes to increase volunteering over recent years in the country,” CAF noted. Out of all the determinants, Singaporean respondents answered positively that they’ve helped a stranger, more so than donating money or volunteering time.
The latest results also marked the end of a four-year reign by Myanmar at the top of the list, dropping down to ninth place. The scores for helping a stranger and volunteering are the lowest ever recorded for the country — something that CAF attributes to the Rohingya crisis.
“After the Rohingya crisis reached its peak during 2017, it is hard not to conclude that the country’s troubles have contributed to Myanmar’s people being less willing or less able to give in these ways,” wrote CAF.
“Proving more resilient is the country’s willingness to donate money, believed to be largely driven by the country’s huge following of Theravada Buddhism which requires donating to support those living a monastic lifestyle.”
Over in the other end of the spectrum, Yemen holds the last spot, followed by Palestine (141st), China (142nd) and Greece (143rd) having the unfortunate distinctions of being countries with the least generous spirit.
