Macedonia is ranked 64th in the World Giving Index 2017 and is on second place according to the achieved jump in that area in 2016 compared to 2015.
The World Giving Index (WGI) is an annual report published by the Charities Aid Foundation. The report bases its findings on three parameters: number of people donating money, volunteering time and helping a stranger. This year’s research has surveyed more than 146,000 people across 139 countries regarding the scope and nature of giving around the world.
Myanmar is the most generous country in the world followed by Indonesia and Kenya as second and third. According to the research, 91 per cent of Myanmar residents gave money to charity in the past year, 53 per cent said they had helped a stranger, and 51 per cent claimed they had volunteered.
"The high scores are likely to be a result of Theravada Buddhism practiced by a large proportion of the population in Myanmar, whereby followers donate to support those living a monastic lifestyle – a practice known as Sangha Dana," the report states.
At the other end of the scale, Yemen was rated the least generous country, with 31 per cent helping a stranger, three per cent giving money and six per cent volunteering, followed by China. Eastern European countries also fared poorly, with Lithuania, Serbia and Latvia making the bottom 10.
The most generous in the region are the Slovenians, who are ranked 58th, followed by citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (59th), the Macedonians (64th), the Kosovars (65th), the Albanians (94th), the Montenegrins (110th), the Greeks (114th), the Croats (121st), the Bulgarians (127th) and the Serbs (132nd).
