New Zealand and Australia are tied for first as the most generous nations on earth from the new Gallup’s World Giving Index. The index is based on surveys and other research on 153 different countries, which together constitute about 95 percent of the world’s population.

Gallup asks people which of the following three charitable acts they have undertaken in the past month:
*donated money to an organisation?
*volunteered time to an organisation?
*helped a stranger, or someone they didn’t know who needed help?

Findings from the analysis showed that:
*giving is strongly correlated with happiness than with a nation’s GDP
*giving is an emotional rather than a rational act
*giving increases with age - explained by changes in disposable income
*women are more likely to give than men - however very close - 30% as against 29% for men

Here is the league table from the report.