Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Happy Nations Give More Than Merely Rich Nations

The Charities Aid Foundation did a world-wide survey of giving. The main finding:

CAF found that the link between happiness and giving is stronger than the link between wealth and giving.
A secondary finding is that the heirs of the British empire lead the world in charity. Here is the top of the list in the 153-nation study.

World Giving Index
Country
% of population who have given money
% of population who have given time
% of population who have helped a stranger
Wellbeing score out of 10
1
Australia
70%
38%
64%
7.3
1
New Zealand
68%
41%
63%
7.4
3
Canada
64%
35%
68%
7.5
3
Ireland
72%
35%
60%
7.0
5
Switzerland
71%
34%
60%
7.5
5
USA
60%
39%
65%
7.2
7
Netherlands
77%
39%
46%
7.6
8
United Kingdom
73%
29%
58%
5.6

2 comments:

pookie said...

Finally, kudos to the heirs of the British Empire.

Whit said...

Gruntled:

Do you have statistics on per capita giving and/or percent of GDP devoted to private charity? It seems like that would be a better measure of giving than simple number of people, some of whom may just drop $5 in the collection plate every few weeks.

Do you see a connection between religious faith and giving?

Is there any trend comparing percent of GDP or per capita giving against the size of a nation's welfare state - that is, do people give more or less to private charity when the government provides a more comprehensive safety net?

Lastly, do you think people give more when they are happy, or are happier when they give more?