Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) - The Leading Countries of the World Giving Index
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Understanding Global Generosity: The World Giving Index
The World Giving Index (WGI) is a global study that provides a unique glimpse into the charitable behavior of humanity. Rather than measuring the sheer volume of wealth donated, it focuses on the spirit of giving—tracking how individuals interact with their communities and strangers regardless of their economic status.
What is the World Giving Index?
The World Giving Index is an annual report that ranks over 140 countries based on three indicators of generosity: helping a stranger, donating money, and volunteering time. Unlike traditional economic reports, it measures the percentage of the population participating in these acts rather than the total currency value, often ranking developing nations higher than the world's wealthiest economies.
📊 The Core Metrics
The index evaluates generosity by measuring the percentage of a country's population that participated in three specific behaviors during the previous month:
Helping a Stranger: The most common form of generosity globally.
Donating Money: Formal giving to charities or religious institutions.
Volunteering Time: Contributing labor to organizations or community causes.
By averaging these three scores, the index provides a "Generosity Score" that allows for a level playing field between the world’s wealthiest nations and developing economies.
🌍 Major Trends and Insights
Recent data reveals a fascinating shift in how the world gives, often defying traditional economic expectations.
The dominance of Indonesia
For several consecutive years, Indonesia has held the title of the world's most generous nation. This is driven by deep-seated cultural and religious values, such as Zakat (obligatory almsgiving) and Gotong Royong (a traditional Indonesian concept of mutual cooperation).
Wealth vs. Sacrifice
The 2025 data introduced a pivot toward measuring percentage of income donated. This metric highlighted a "generosity gap" where:
Lower-income nations (such as Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya) often lead in the proportion of their earnings given away.
High-income nations frequently rank lower in percentage-of-income giving, despite having higher total dollar amounts.
The "Crisis Effect"
The index has consistently shown that in times of conflict or natural disaster, "Helping a Stranger" scores skyrocket. For example, countries experiencing significant social or political upheaval often see a massive surge in local, grassroots mobilization.
🏆 Top Performers by Category (Recent Data)
| Category | Global Leader | Key Driver |
| Overall Generosity | Indonesia | Strong religious and communal traditions. |
| Helping a Stranger | Jamaica / Nigeria | Highly social and community-oriented cultures. |
| Donating Money | Myanmar / Indonesia | Deeply embedded practices of religious tithing. |
| Volunteering Time | Liberia / Philippines | Grassroots community support networks. |
💡 Why This Data Matters
The World Giving Index serves as more than just a leaderboard. It is a tool used by:
Governments: To understand how to foster a "culture of giving" through better policy and tax incentives.
Non-Profits: To identify where "giving infrastructure" (like digital payment systems) is needed to convert a willing population into a formal donor base.
Sociologists: To study the correlation between generosity, social cohesion, and national happiness.
Global Generosity: The Leading Countries of the World Giving Index
The World Giving Index (WGI) is a global study that provides a unique glimpse into the charitable behavior of humanity. Rather than measuring the sheer volume of wealth donated, it focuses on the spirit of giving—tracking how individuals interact with their communities and strangers regardless of their economic status.
📊 The Core Metrics
The index evaluates generosity by measuring the percentage of a country's population that participated in three specific behaviors during the previous month:
Helping a Stranger: Assisting someone you didn't know who needed help.
Donating Money: Formal giving to charities or religious institutions.
Volunteering Time: Offering time to an organization or community group.
By averaging these three scores, the index provides a "Generosity Score" that allows for a level playing field between the world’s wealthiest nations and developing economies.
🌍 Profiles of Leading Countries
The latest reports reveal a diverse map of generosity, where cultural traditions and government initiatives often play a larger role than GDP.
Indonesia: The Perennial Leader
For seven consecutive years, Indonesia has been named the world's most generous country. Its dominance is nearly absolute: 90% of Indonesians donate money to charity, and 65% volunteer their time—a rate nearly three times the global average. This is driven by the deeply embedded Islamic practice of Zakat and the cultural tradition of Gotong Royong (mutual cooperation).
Nigeria: The New Leader in Global Sacrifice
In the 2025 World Giving Report, Nigeria emerged as the global leader when measured by the percentage of income donated. Nigerians gave an average of 2.83% of their income to charity, the highest in the world. This highlights a trend where lower-income nations often contribute a larger proportion of their personal wealth than wealthier nations.
Kenya: Africa’s Philanthropic Hub
Kenya consistently ranks in the top five globally. The country scores exceptionally high in "Helping a Stranger" and "Volunteering Time," reflecting a social fabric built on community resilience and the African philosophy of Ubuntu—"I am because we are."
Singapore: The Government Catalyst
Singapore recently made a massive leap into the top three. This surge is a rare example of government policy successfully shifting national culture; specific state initiatives and tax incentives designed to bolster philanthropy have significantly increased both volunteering and formal donations.
🏆 Top 10 Most Generous Countries (Recent Rankings)
| Rank | Country | Key Strength |
| 1 | Indonesia | Highest donation and volunteering rates (7-year leader). |
| 2 | Nigeria | #1 in percentage of income donated (2.83%). |
| 3 | Kenya | Extraordinary community support and helping strangers. |
| 4 | Singapore | Rapidly growing philanthropy sector via policy. |
| 5 | The Gambia | High participation despite economic challenges. |
| 6 | Egypt | Strong traditions of religious and direct giving. |
| 7 | United States | High scores across all three metrics; robust giving infrastructure. |
| 8 | Ukraine | Massive surge in civic engagement and civil support. |
| 9 | Australia | Consistently strong in formal volunteering. |
| 10 | UAE | High levels of formal monetary donations and international aid. |
💡 The "Crisis Effect" and Future Trends
The data shows that generosity is often a response to hardship. For example, Morocco saw an 800% increase in donations following the 2023 earthquakes, and Ukraine rose from 10th to 2nd place in a single year following the 2022 invasion. This suggests that while economic stability helps, the human impulse to help is most visible when the need is greatest.
Understanding the CAF World Giving Index: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) measures global generosity through three distinct Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These metrics are designed to capture a broad spectrum of charitable behavior, ensuring that generosity is recognized regardless of a country's economic wealth or the presence of a formal nonprofit sector.
📊 The Three Core KPIs
To calculate a nation's "Generosity Score," researchers ask individuals if they have performed any of the following activities in the past month:
1. Helping a Stranger
This is the most common form of generosity worldwide. It measures the percentage of the population that assisted someone they did not know who needed help.
Focus: Captures informal, spontaneous kindness and community support.
Trend: This KPI often spikes during times of national crisis or natural disasters.
2. Donating Money
This metric tracks the percentage of people who gave money to a formal charity or a religious organization.
Focus: Measures the breadth of financial participation rather than the total dollar amount.
Note: In the evolved 2025 World Giving Report, this KPI was expanded to track Donations as a Share of Income, revealing that people in low-income countries often donate a higher percentage of their earnings than those in high-income nations.
3. Volunteering Time
This KPI measures active engagement by tracking the percentage of the population that gave their time to an organization or a community cause.
Focus: Highlights social cohesion and the willingness of citizens to contribute labor to better their society.
📈 The Formula for the Index Score
The final ranking for each country is determined by the World Giving Index Score, which is the simple average of these three KPIs:
The score is expressed as a value between 0 and 100. A higher score indicates a more pervasive culture of giving across all three behaviors.
💡 Why These KPIs Are Used
By focusing on participation rates (how many people give) rather than monetary value (how much is given), the CAF ensures that:
Wealth doesn't dictate rank: A small donation from a person in a developing nation carries the same weight in the index as a large donation from a millionaire.
Cultural nuances are captured: It recognizes religious giving (like Zakat or Tithing) and communal traditions (like Ubuntu or Gotong Royong).
Universality: It reflects that generosity is a human impulse found in every culture, regardless of economic status.
Global Generosity: Organizations Behind the World Giving Index
The CAF World Giving Index and its successor, the World Giving Report, are the result of a massive collaborative effort between international research firms, philanthropic networks, and local civil society organizations.
🏛️ Leading Organizations
The project is spearheaded and managed by a core group of experts who handle the funding, research design, and global distribution.
1. Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)
The Charities Aid Foundation is the primary organization behind the index. Based in the UK, CAF is a leading international charity that has operated for over 100 years.
Role: CAF designs the study, analyzes the data, and publishes the final reports.
Mission: They work to "accelerate progress in society" by helping donors give more effectively and helping charities become more resilient.
2. Gallup (The Data Engine)
While CAF produces the report, the raw data is gathered by Gallup, one of the world's most respected polling organizations.
The Gallup World Poll: The index utilizes data from the Gallup World Poll, an ongoing research project that conducts interviews in over 140 countries, representing 95% of the world's adult population.
Standardization: Gallup ensures that the questions are asked in the same way across different languages and cultures, providing the scientific rigor needed for global comparisons.
3. Focaldata (2025 Evolution)
For the more in-depth 2025 World Giving Report, CAF partnered with Focaldata, a consumer research platform.
Role: Focaldata conducted the specialized nationally representative polls in 101 countries specifically for the new "percentage of income donated" metric.
🤝 The CAF International Network
Because "giving" looks different in every country, CAF relies on its International Network—a group of independent, locally led organizations—to provide regional expertise and ensure the data reflects local realities.
| Organization | Region / Country |
| Filantropi Indonesia | Indonesia (The Global Leader) |
| Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF) | Kenya |
| Workplace Giving Australia | Australia & New Zealand |
| IDIS (Instituto para o Desenvolvimento do Investimento Social) | Brazil |
| RACI (The Argentine Network for International Cooperation) | Argentina |
| BCause | Bulgaria |
| OneStage | India |
| Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) | Pakistan |
🌐 Specialized Collaborations (2025–2026)
As the index has expanded into a broader "World Giving Report," new strategic partners have joined the initiative:
Philanthropy Age & The Pearl Initiative: These organizations (via the Circle partnership) supported the data analysis specifically for the UAE and Saudi Arabia country reports.
Social Purpose Organizations (SPOs): CAF currently works with over 20 leading social purpose organizations to produce the "World Charity Landscape Report," focusing on the health of the non-profit sector itself.
Data Sources: Powering the World Giving Reports
The credibility of the CAF World Giving Index and the World Giving Report 2025 rests on a massive, scientifically rigorous data collection operation. The data is sourced from two primary global research partners to ensure both historical consistency and new, deeper insights into financial sacrifice.
🌎 The Primary Source: Gallup World Poll
For over 15 years, the foundational data for the Index has come from the Gallup World Poll. This is the world’s most extensive ongoing public opinion study.
Scope: Gallup interviews individuals in over 140 countries, representing roughly 95% of the world's adult population.
Methodology: In most countries, Gallup surveys a representative sample of approximately 1,000 individuals per year. These interviews are conducted face-to-face or via telephone, depending on the country’s infrastructure, ensuring that even remote rural populations are included.
Standardization: To ensure the data is comparable across cultures, Gallup uses a standardized set of questions translated into more than 145 languages.
📈 The 2025 Evolution: Focaldata
To transition from the "Index" to the more detailed World Giving Report 2025, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) commissioned a specialized survey through Focaldata, an award-winning consumer research agency.
Deep Dive Research: While the Gallup data focuses on three "Yes/No" questions, the Focaldata survey expanded to 28 questions to uncover the "why" and "how" behind giving.
Income Tracking: Focaldata captured detailed data from over 55,000 respondents in 101 countries. This allowed CAF to calculate the groundbreaking "Percentage of Income Donated" metric for the first time.
Fieldwork Period: The 2025 report data was primarily collected in January 2025, providing a near real-time snapshot of global generosity.
🔬 Data Integrity and Validation
To ensure the rankings are fair and accurate, both CAF and its data partners apply strict validation protocols:
Representative Weighting: All data is weighted by age, gender, and region to ensure the sample matches the actual national demographics.
Attention Checks: The 2025 survey included "attention check" questions to filter out low-quality or automated responses.
Income Filtering: In the 2025 report, outliers (the top 5% and bottom 2% of income earners) were removed to prevent extreme wealth or data errors from skewing a country's average.
📋 Snapshot of Research Scale
| Feature | Gallup (Historical Index) | Focaldata (2025 Report) |
| Sample Size | ~150,000 annually | ~56,000 (specialized study) |
| Countries Covered | 140+ | 101 |
| Data Collection | Phone & Face-to-Face | Online (Nationally Representative) |
| Core Goal | Year-on-year trend tracking | Deep behavioral & financial analysis |
The Future of Global Generosity
The transition from the World Giving Index to the more comprehensive World Giving Report 2025 marks a shift in how we understand human compassion. The data suggests that as we enter 2026, generosity is becoming more decentralized, more resilient, and deeply tied to personal identity rather than national wealth.
🔑 Final Takeaways
Giving is Universal: The report confirms that 4.3 billion people—nearly three-quarters of the global adult population—perform acts of kindness every month.
Necessity Over Wealth: In 2025, the new "percentage of income" metric proved that the most significant sacrifices are often made in low-income nations. African countries dominated the rankings for financial sacrifice, led by Nigeria's 2.83% donation rate.
Governmental Impact: There is a clear correlation between national policy and generosity. Countries like Singapore have shown that state-led initiatives can successfully drive up volunteering and formal donation rates.
Resilience in Crisis: From Ukraine to Morocco, global data proves that humanitarian crises do not suppress the spirit of giving; instead, they act as catalysts for record-breaking community support.
🚀 The Outlook for 2026
Looking ahead, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is focusing on several key initiatives to further evolve the global charity landscape:
The World Charity Landscape Report: Set to become a staple alongside the Giving Report, this new study will analyze the "health" of over 3,000 NGOs globally, focusing on their financial resilience and transparency.
Digitalization of Giving: With "giving infrastructure" becoming a critical KPI, 2026 is expected to see a surge in digital and mobile-first donation platforms, particularly in the Asia-Pacific and African regions.
Youth Engagement: A major challenge identified in the latest reports is the decline in formal giving among younger demographics in Western nations. Re-engaging this group through "impact-first" storytelling is a top priority for 2026.
"Generosity is the cornerstone of a resilient society. As we face an unstable geopolitical environment, the World Giving Report serves as a reminder that the human impulse to help remains our most powerful tool for social change." — Neil Heslop OBE, CEO of CAF
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