PHOTO: REUTERS
The United States of America has been named as the world’s most generous nation in the world as its citizens give the most to charity, according to a new report by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).
USA, New Zealand and Canada have the highest rate of charitable donations as a percentage gross domestic product (GDP), the report found.
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The annual index revealed the most generous countries in the world based on the highest charitable donations as a percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP). CAF’s report took data from countries accounting for around 75 per cent of global GDP and 53 per cent of the world population.
The United States score, in terms of charitable giving by individuals as a percentage of GDP, was recorded at 1.44%, in New Zealand at 0.79%, in Canada at 0.77% and in the UK at 0.54%.
The report also analysed the impact of taxation and government spending and the amount given to charity and found there was "no significant correlation" except for employer social security charges, highlighting the complexity behind people’s decisions of when to give and how much.
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Adam Pickering, international policy manager at CAF, said, "Across the 24 nations we studied, we found no significant link between government spending, income or corporation tax and the proportion of GDP donated by individuals”.
"This suggests the relationship between the amount of taxes people pay and the amount they give to charity is not as clear cut as some may have thought. The factors which motivate people to give, and influence how much they give, are incredibly complex", he added.
Here are the 10 most generous nations in the world:
1) United States of America
PHOTO: REUTERS2) New Zealand
PHOTO: AFP3) Canada
PHOTO: REUTERS4) United Kingdom
PHOTO: REUTERS5) Republic of Korea
PHOTO: REUTERS10 most influential countries in the world
6) Singapore
PHOTO: REUTERS7) India
PHOTO: REUTERS8) Russia
PHOTO: REUTERS9) Italy
PHOTO: REUTERS10) The Netherlands
PHOTO: REUTERSThis article originally appeared on Independent.
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