Which Is the Most Charitable Country?

The most charitable country in the world is Australia, according to scores from the World Giving Index for 2007-2012. The index measures 153 countries each year and determines their charitable ranking in terms of the percentage of people who donate money, give of their time or provide help to strangers. In 2012, Australia ranked first, followed by Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and the US. Offering help to strangers was the most common charitable contribution for the 20 highest-scoring countries. Volunteering time tended to be the least common, particularly among the 10 most charitable countries.

More about charitable contributions throughout the world:

• Worldwide, women have been found to donate more money, and men typically volunteer more time and help strangers more often.


• An estimated 100 million fewer people contributed to charity through money, time or helping strangers in 2011 than in 2010.


• The level of reported happiness of a country was found to coincide more with the likelihood to contribute to charity than with the country's level of wealth.