Indonesia Among the Most Charitable Countries in the World

KOMPAS.com – The Charities Aid Foundation [CAF] has named Indonesia as one of its top ten charitable countries in the world, according to its tenth annual World Giving Index [WGI] report.

Indonesia placed tenth on the report, which is “the world’s largest survey of charitable endeavors around the world,” Charities Aid Foundation said in its website.

The WGI report surveyed over 1.3 million respondents in 125 countries to compile their data. The document also “analyses data from the past ten years, uncovering trends in people’s charitable actions through times of economic crisis, economic recovery, and geopolitical unrest.”

The World Giving Index report particularly focused on three charitable measures:

• Helping a stranger
• Donated money to a charity
• Volunteered time to an organization

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Here are the list of the top ten most charitable countries, including Indonesia:

1. United States

The WGI put the United States as “the number one country on the WGI report for the last ten years, with a score of 58%. Of those surveyed, 72% reported helping a stranger, 61% reported donating to a charity, and 42% reported having volunteered their time to an organization.”

2. Myanmar

According to the WGI, “Myanmar is the second-most charitable country in the world, with an overall score of 58%. Despite being a lower-middle-income country, Myanmar has the highest percentage of people donating to charities at 81%.”

49 percent of respondents from the country admitted to helping strangers, 81 percent donate their money to charity, while 43 percent volunteered their time.

The report attributed the altruistic nature of the country’s respondents to the adherence of many of its people to Theravada Buddhism, “for whom small, frequent acts of giving are the norm.”

DOK. Humas Dompet Dhuafa The Dompet Dhuafa charity organization's Disaster Management Center (DMC) prepares 20 tons of rice, 16 tons of cooking oil as well as milk, flour and other foodstuffs at its warehouse in Ciputat, South Tangerang, on Monday (27/4/2020)

3. New Zealand

New Zealand placed third in the WGI index with an overall score of 57 percent. The country is also in the top ten for all three measures, placing “ninth for donations [65 percent], ninth for helping strangers [64 percent], and sixth for time volunteered [41 percent].”

4. Australia

The WGI placed Australia as “the fourth-most charitable country in the world, with an overall score of 56 percent.” The country earned the standing by the “eighth-highest rate of donating to charities of 68 percent and the ninth-highest rate of helping strangers of 64 percent.”

Australian respondents in the report also placed fifth in volunteering their time with 37 percent.

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5. Ireland

Irlandia placed fifth in WGI’s list of most charitable countries in the world “with an overall score of 56 percent. Of those surveyed, 62% reported helping a stranger, 69% reported donating to a charity, and 38% reported having volunteered their time to an organization.”

6. Canada

The WGI placed Canada as the sixth most-charitable country in the world, with an overall score of 55 percent.

Of Canadian respondents in the report, “63 percent [admitted] donating to charities, 64 percent [to] helping strangers, and 37 percent [were] volunteering at an organization.”

7. The United Kingdom

The WGI report placed the United Kingdom seventh on its list of most charitable countries, with an overall score of 54 percent. “The U.K. has the second-highest donation rate of 71 percent, a helping strangers rate of 60 percent, and a volunteer rate of 30 percent,” the document said.

The WGI attributed the figures to the country’s age-old tradition of philanthropy.

Dokumen manajemen Restoran Manajemen Tree Top Labuan Bajo A food bank at the Tree Top restaurant in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara

8. The Netherlands

The Netherlands placed eighth on the list of most charitable countries in the world with a cumulative score of 53 percent. “The Netherlands, like the U.K., has the second-highest donation rate in the world [with] 71 percent,” said the WGI.

The WGI noted that 53 percent of Dutch people said they helped strangers, while 36 percent admitted to devoting their time in volunteering.

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9. Sri Lanka

The WGI said placed Sri Lanka at ninth place, with an overall level of giving at 51 percent, despite its standing as a lower-middle income country.

“Sri Lanka has the highest rate of volunteering in the world of 46 percent. Of those surveyed, 50 percent of respondents reported donating to a charity, and 55 percent reported helping strangers”.

10. Indonesia

Indonesia made the WGI top ten list of most charitable countries, with an overall score of 50 percent.

“69 percent [of Indonesians] reported having donated to charities (the seventh-highest rate globally), 42% reported helping a stranger, and 40% reported volunteering at an organization (seventh-highest in the world),” noted the WGI.

KOMPAS.com/SIGIRANUS MARUTHO BERE Hundreds of orphans from various orphanages in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara participate in Chinese New Year celebrations held by the PT NAM company, Saturday (25/1/2020)

No connection between a country’s economic standing and charity

The CAF’s WGI report noted that helping strangers is the most frequent form of charity among rich and developing countries alike, “with 48.3 percent [of the world’s population] having done so across the 10 years of the World Giving Index. This equates to more than two and a half billion people.”

The CAF has not found any characteristic behind a country’s generosity. “The top charitable countries represent different levels of wealth, cultures, religions, and geographies,” it noted.

“For example, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia are all classified by the United Nations as lower-middle-income countries; however, they are all in the top ten most charitable countries in the world.”

The CAF compiled the WGI report, based on a survey of charity in more than 100 countries,

(Writer: Jawahir Gustav Rizal | Editor : Rendika Ferri Kurniawan)

Sources: 

https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2021/03/09/153000665/indonesia-masuk-10-besar-negara-paling-dermawan-sedunia?page=all#page2.