20 of the Most Generous Countries in the World

When it comes to lending a helping hand to a stranger, these are the countries you want to be in. The Charities Aid Foundation knows a lot about charities and the people who donate to them so they gathered their data to determine which countries don’t shy away from generosity.

Polling 1,000 residents in each of the 140 nations studied, they were asked about how much money they donated to charities, how many hours are spent volunteering and how often they help strangers, and the results are kind of awesome.

**The study was conducted in 2016 and since times are a-changing, expect some of these countries to fall out of the running by year’s end. You know which countries we’re referring to.

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20. Denmark

The Danish love to help strangers and donate to charities.

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19. Kuwait

Their volunteering time is pretty dismal (at 17 per cent, they're the lowest in the Top 20) but the people of Kuwait balance that out with their kindness to strangers (a whopping 79 per cent, tops on the list).

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18. Bhutan

The people of Bhutan don't mind opening their wallets for others and offering help to strangers.

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17. Iceland

Icelanders' charitable donations (70%) and helping strangers (52%) put them in the Top 20.

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16. Malta

The Maltese might not donate a lot of time, but they're tied for third with Australia (73%) for donating their money.

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15. Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan, considered one of the world's most repressive countries, does a half-decent job when it comes to helping strangers and donating money but when it comes to volunteering, they are tops among the Top 20, with an astounding 60 per cent of Turkmen getting in on the action.

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14. Norway

Norwegians are generous with charitable donations and their time helping strangers but fall a tad short when it comes to volunteering.

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13. Netherlands

The Dutch are almost exactly the same as those in nearby-ish country Norway in regards to their generosity.

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12. Kenya

Kenyans' volunteering and charitable numbers aren't super-high but the country's score was bolstered by its willingness to help others.

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11. Uzbekistan

The Central Asian country scored high marks for both its kindness to strangers and community volunteerism.

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10. United Arab Emirates

Wealthy in every sense of the word, the country broke into the Top 10 for the first time ever.

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9. Ireland

Its tourism industry isn't successful for nothing. The kindness of strangers along with volunteerism make Ireland a place you need to go.

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8. United Kingdom

BB (Before Brexit), 69 per cent of Brits gave to others while 33 per cent were more than happy to donate their time. Will that change? Only time will tell.

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7. Indonesia

Moving up from 22 to seven is quite the improvement. The survey was conducted in August, during Ramadan, so donating to charity may have been high at the time but, hey, we'll take it.

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6. Canada

As the world's second-largest country, Canada has made the Top 10 every year and 2016 was no different thanks to volunteering and helping others.

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5. Sri Lanka

Its nearly 26-year-long civil war came to and end in 2009 and amidst all that devastation, the country of 21 million rounds out the Top 5, scoring high marks for both kindness to strangers and community volunteerism. Amazing.

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4. New Zealand

Just like its neighbour Australia (you'll see them in a sec), the World Giving Index calls the Oceania region "a conflict-free, economically homogenous continent where barriers to giving will be lower than in many other countries." Hear, hear.

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3. Australia

Australians ranked third in amounts of per-person giving to charity and the country has promised to welcome 12,000 Syrian refugees.

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2. United States

There was a time not too long ago when 73 per cent of people helped a stranger, and volunteerism was high. Who knows what next year's numbers will be like.

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1. Myanmar

An astounding 91 per cent of people in Myanmar gave money to charity in the past year. "The high scores are likely to be a result of Theravada Buddhism practiced by a large proportion of the population in Myanmar, whereby followers donate to support those living a monastic lifestyle – a practice known as Sangha Dana," the report states. Still. At 39 million people, that makes it the highest per-person giving ratio of any country. Bravo.