Ireland ninth most generous country in world

Ireland remains one of the top 10 most generous countries in the world but has dropped seven percentage points since last year, according to a new survey.

The study by the London-based Charitable Aid Foundation found Ireland was the ninth most generous country, with a “world giving index score” of 56 per cent.

According to the foundation, 59 per cent of Irish people surveyed said they helped a stranger in 2014, 67 per cent said they donated money and 41 per cent said they spent time volunteering.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, was the most generous country in the world according to the index, which measures the charitable behaviour of states by polling people on how often they donate to charity, how often they volunteer and how often they help strangers.

Burma (Myanmar) topped the list, with nine out of 10 adults donating money to charity and half of them volunteering their time, while Burundi is the least generous, followed by China, Yemen and Lithuania.

The United States, New Zealand, Canada and Australia followed Burma for overall generosity.

Only six of this year’s Top 10 for individuals performing voluntary work also featured last year: Burma, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Canada, the US and Uzbekistan, with Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Bhutan, Ireland, Malaysia and Nigeria all leaving the Top Ten.

The foundation said more people around the world are giving to charity, with about 1.4 billion people donating money in 2014, or 31.5 per cent of adults, up from 28.3 per cent in 2013.

Almost half of the world’s adult population said they helped a stranger in 2014 according to the poll, a slight increase on the previous year, with Iraq topping the list, followed by Liberia, the US, Namibia and Jamaica.

The survey data was provided by polling firm Gallup, which interviewed over 150,000 people in 2014 on charitable giving and other topics.

The proportion of people donating money in conflict-hit Ukraine quadrupled in 2014 compared to the previous year, while notable increases were also seen in the Balkan countries, hit by serious flooding in May 2014.

“One factor which holds true is that, in almost any place in the world, people will rally around in a crisis,” said Charitable Aid Foundation chief executive John Low.