Charity Aid Foundation annually publishes its World Generosity Index, a report aiming to provide information on the scope and nature of generosity on the global scale. Its seventh edition, published in September 2017, presents data from 139 countries around the world for the period 2012-2016.
The report is based on surveys conducted by Gallup, the market research firm that also provides data for publications such as the UNDP Human Development Report and the OECD Better Life Index. To make sure that generosity is understood in its many aspects, the Index focuses on three key questions: In the last month, have you helped a stranger? Have you donated money to charity? And have you volunteered for an organization? The overall score for each country is the average of the answers to these questions.On the global scale, Myanmar (65%) tops the list for the third consecutive year, followed by the Indonesia (60%), and Kenya (60%). Among these, only Myanmar also ranked first in one of the indicators; 91% of people in the country donated money to a charity. Besides, Indonesia, for its part, positioned itself first in another indicator; 55% of the people did some kind of volunteering. The indicator is embedded by Sierra Leone, where 81% of people helped an unknown. For its part, Argentina was ranked 83rd worldwide with an overall score of 30%. Although the score is low, there is an improvement over the previous year, where he ranked 108th with a score of 25%. With regard to Latin America, among the 19 countries surveyed (all except Cuba), the best positions were Dominican Republic (41% and 32° worldwide), Honduras (30% and 40°) and Guatemala (39% and 41°). Argentina is ranked 14th, just above Perú, El Salvador, México, Venezuela y Paraguay. In comparison, the neighbors Chile (37%) and Uruguay (34%) had the best scores in South America, reaching positions 40th and 60th worldwide.That does not mean that Argentina, compared to the rest of Latin America, has poor percentages in each of the indicators: 56% of the people assisted unknown people and 20% were voluntary in some organization. These percentages are much higher than those of the previous year, leaving it 45th and 68th respectively, with similar levels to the rest of the South American countries and above the world average. What ultimately leaves the country in a low general position is the scarce 15% in money donation. This is the only indicator that did not increase (and even more, declined) from the previous year, leaving Argentina ranked 109°. But what does this mean? According to these data, Argentina is a country with inhabitants willing to help, both particularly and using their time in organizations. But when it comes to donating money the provision seems to be less. It is worth remembering that this does not mean that the amount donated is less than in other countries, but the amount of people who donate is less. If you want to know more about this report, go to https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2017-publications/caf-world-giving-index-2017.