The U.S. tied with Switzerland for fifth place in a “world giving index” by the British-based Charities Aid Foundation that measured charitable behavior across the globe.
The ranking in the “World Giving Index 2010” was based on the U.S.’s showing in three categories””60 percent of Americans gave to an organization; 39 percent volunteered for a group; and 65 percent were willing to aid a stranger.
This is a good example of how to skew the data (lies, damn lies and statistics). From a 2006 report:
[blockquote] Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7%. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73%, while France, with a 0.14% rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany.[/blockquote]
Another statistical skewing has to do with th 20 or so million illegal immigrants living here, counted among our population, yet not “giving”.
The US is the most generous nation on the face of the earth. Skewing the statistics to turn a nation that gives more than double any other nation so as to say that they rank 5th place in giving is just an outright LIE.
Without getting too caught up in the question of who is number 1, I think it says something that the top six are all ‘western’ nations with a Judeo/Christian heritage. Now that isn’t the only reason, of course, as they all happen to be nations who have people with the means to give more in comparison to less affluent places like Burundi and Madagascar. But that being said, there are nations that also have people with the means that are further down the list.
You can find more details about who sits where at:
http://www.cafamerica.org/dnn/Portals/0/Press Releases/World Giving Index Final Report.pdf
Ross
I think this survey counted the percentage of people giving without looking at the percentage of income being donated. Other surveys have looked at the amount being donated as well as the number of doners.