Ukraine and the Netherlands are Europe’s most generous countries

Ukraine and the Netherlands are Europe’s most generous countries, according to a report on global giving, which also says that last year was the most generous since 2009.

The World Giving Index, compiled by the UK’s Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), finds that the number of people globally who donated money or helped a stranger increased by around half a billion in 2021. The global total reached three billion, the highest since 2009. CAF also notes that the rate of donations increased by 10% in high-income countries.

In compiling the Index, people around the world are asked three questions: have they helped a stranger, given money, or volunteered for a good cause over the past month?

For the fifth year in a row, Indonesia is the world’s most generous country overall according to the Index, while the United States is 2nd and New Zealand is 3rd.

Ukraine is 10th, up from 20th the year before, and might be expected to rise further in next year’s report, given the scale of the response within the country to the Russian invasion. The report suggests that Ukraine’s rise in the rankings “may be due in part to the country’s socio-economic growth and the cultural shifts that were taking place in the years before the war”.

Excluding volunteering and helping a stranger, and looking solely at those who said they had given money, four European countries make the top 10. In third place overall is the Netherlands with 68%, followed closely by Iceland (67%, 4th), the United Kingdom (65%, 5th) and Malta (64%, 7th). For Ukraine, the figure was 49%.

No European country features in the top 10 lists on the ‘helping a stranger’ or ‘volunteering time’ measures.

Neil Heslop OBE, chief executive of CAF, said:

“Against an uncertain economic, social, and political backdrop, the World Giving Index improves our understanding about global giving. Covid-19 has affected the world’s poorest and vulnerable the most, which has also disrupted progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

“Private donors and businesses are likely to be called upon to fill funding gaps and charities will need to work out how best to direct their limited funding for the greatest impact. However, in the wake of two difficult years and with further challenges likely to come, we continue to see great instances of global generosity.”

Page five of the report includes asks for Governments, international funders and civil society organisations, which CAF says would “enable cross-border giving and local giving structures to build sustainability”.

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