According to the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), the World Giving Index–the largest study of charitable behavior across the globe–registered a 2% drop in financial donations to charity in 2007-2012, a fact in part influenced by the current world economic crisis.
The Index is based on an average of three measures of giving behavior: the percentage of people who donate money to charity, volunteer their time, and help a stranger, in a typical month. The Report reveals that the world’s top 20 most giving countries have very different socio-political and geographical profiles and that every continent has at least one country on the list. Ireland is the world’s most financially generous country, closely followed by Australia.
But also on the list are Quatar (which has the second-highest pro capita income in the world), the United States (with its 300 million citizens), Liberia (the list’s penultimate country with regard to pro capita income), and Trinidad and Tobago (with barely 1 million citizens). Young people between the ages of 16-24 dedicate themselves to volunteer work in a manner similar to people over the age of 50, although the latter group donates more money than time to direct involvement charitable activities.