Global study shows how Covid-19 upended charitable giving – South Africa, however, has rallied
An annual survey of global generosity has laid bare the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic on charitable giving. For the first time since the survey, which is run by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), began, five major western economies have fallen out of the list of the top 10 most generous countries. South Africa, however, has rallied – moving from 45 to 21 out of 114 countries.
The CAF’s World Giving Index is a global survey that has interviewed more than 1.6 million people since 2009. Every year, it asks participants whether they have helped a stranger, given money or volunteered for a good cause over the past month. For this edition, data was gathered in 114 countries, representing over 90% of the world’s population. The rankings produced were not based on the amounts given or the number of volunteer hours worked.
The survey found that the world’s most generous country is Indonesia, which also topped the list in 2018. Indonesia is followed by Kenya and Nigeria in positions two and three, Ghana at six and Uganda at eight.
This year’s survey highlights the impact of lockdowns on charitable giving as the USA, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands all fell out of the highest rankings. Only Australia and New Zealand, where the survey was undertaken in the weeks before the first wave of the pandemic took hold, maintained their top 10 positions.
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