People travel for various reasons. Some may desire to visit their ancestral homeland, while others venture afar to view ancient sites and witness history in living color. For those looking for inspiration to see the world, perhaps visiting the most generous countries with regard to charitable giving can be just the motivation necessary.
Although Canadians and Americans are generous, their charitable efforts are equalled or surpassed by other nations around the world. Charities Aid Foundation is a group that supports charities and donees. The United Kingdom-based organization annually produces its World Giving Index, which polls residents of 140 nations about how much they tend to give to charity, how much time they spend volunteering and their propensity to help strangers. This index paints an interesting picture of the world as a whole and illustrates that it isn't always the most affluent nations that do the most giving.
The following are the five most generous countries according to the 2016 World Giving Index.
5. Sri Lanka: The country of 21 million scored high for community volunteerism and kindness to strangers as the country continues to rebound from a brutal civil war in 2009.
4. New Zealand: This Pacific nation close to Australia ranks highly in generosity and tends to be a relatively conflict-free place to live and grow.
3. Australia: Residents of Australia are no strangers to giving, and this vast country is filled with tourist-friendly beaches, a vast countryside and abundant culture.
2. United States: Americans continue to exhibit their generosity. Even in a year when residents were divided by the presidential election, 73 percent of U.S. residents reported they helped a stranger in 2016. Rates of volunteerism in the United States are high as well.
1. Myanmar: For the third year in a row, Myanmar took top position as the most generous nation on the globe. Myanmar has the highest per-person giving ratio of any country on the list. Ninety-one percent of people reported they gave money to charity in the last year.
Canada, Indonesia and the United Kingdom also deserve honorable mentions for their generosity. In fact, Charities Aid Foundation says the UK is the most generous nation in Europe, while China was named as the least generous country in the world.
Generosity extends to all corners of the world. Travelers can explore charitable nations near and far, rewarding such countries' generosity by spending their vacation dollars within their borders.
