By Mata Press Service

Indonesia, where 1 in 10 people live below the poverty line is the most generous country in the world a report according to the global index of giving published this month.

The other countries that made it to the top 10 in Asia are Singapore, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Nepal, Republic of Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.

The World Giving Index 2018 was prepared by British organisation Charities Aid Foundation and includes data from 146 countries that was collected throughout 2017.

“The levels of generosity we see in countries is truly humbling, particularly when it shows huge

support for others in countries which have suffered years of conflict, war or instability. That really demonstrates our shared human values shining through,” the report stated.

The report looked at three aspects of giving behavior. The questions that lie at the heart of the report are:

Helped a stranger, or someone you didn’t know who needed help?

Donated money to a charity?

Volunteered your time to an organisation?

For the first time, Indonesia tops the CAF World Giving Index. Having come in second place in 2017, Indonesia’s three individual giving scores are largely unchanged. However, space has been made at the top by Myanmar which drops to ninth place in this year’s rankings, having previously held the top spot since 2014.

“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. 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.”

An increased proportion of both men and women reported helping a stranger after the overall

decline reported in 2017. Globally, men are more likely to report this behavior, and, the gap between the sexes has been increasing year-on-year from 1.9 percentage points in 2011 to 4.3 percentage points in 2017.

India tops the list for the number of people donating money, although it ranks only 89th for participation rates when calculated as a proportion of the population. This number one position in terms of the number of people donating is due to its overall population size relative to the other countries included in the CAF World Giving Index.

Those who have entered the top 10 this year are Sri Lanka and Singapore, Singapore is one

of this year’s most improved countries, driven in part by an increase in its volunteering score from 25% to 39%.

The country with the lowest rates of volunteering is Lao People's Democratic Republic where just 4% reported doing so. As one of only five communist countries left in the world11, the state exercises strict control over civil society.

"With as many as 2.4 billion people set to join the world’s middle classes by 2030, it is crucial that we ensure that the groundwork is put in place to support and encourage a mass engagement in giving," the CAF report said.

"We estimate that if the world’s middle classes were to give just 0.5% of their spending – less than the average UK household gives and about the same as people in the Republic of Korea – that could amount to $319 billion in resources for civil society organizations annually in 2030," it added.

Globally, Indonesia topped the list with the most generous people on earth followed by Australia and New Zealand with only around a half a percentage point between them.

Six of 2018's top 20 are in Europe and five are in Asia while four of the top 20 are in Africa including Kenya which was one of the most improved countries in 2017.

Three are in the Americas.

Key findings

Indonesia tops the CAF World Giving Index for the first time

Whilst Indonesia’s three individual giving scores are largely unchanged since last year when the country came in second place, it now moves into the top spot vacated by Myanmar, which has dropped down to ninth place after four years at number one on the Index.

Significantly more people across the globe reported helping a stranger and volunteering time in 2017, whilst the proportion who donated money has declined for the second year in a row.

The proportion of people across the world who donated money in 2017 – when the research for this year’s report was conducted – is still at its lowest level since 2013. Donating money has increased amongst those from developed nations (from 40% to 42%), but has declined amongst developing countries (from 25% to 24%). It has also declined amongst the older age groups who have historically been the most likely to give in this way.

Scores of the top 20 Western countries bounce back

Last year, we reported that every Western country in the top 20 had a lower CAF World Giving Index score. This decline has now been largely reversed with most of those same countries now more in line with earlier Index scores pre 2016. When taken as a group, developed countries have seen improvement across all three scores, but particularly in terms of donating money and helping a stranger.

The giving gap between continents has narrowed in recent years

An upward trend for Africa coupled with a slight decrease for the Americas and a fairly flat trend elsewhere has led to a narrowing of the giving gap between the continents. Excluding Oceania (which in our survey is made up of only Australia and New Zealand) the gap between the lowest scoring continent, Africa, and the second highest scoring continent, Asia, has narrowed to just one percentage point. This compares to six percentage points five years ago.