Indonesia has been named the World's Most Generous Country for the seventh consecutive year in the 2024 World Giving Index (WGI) released by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), a UK-based philanthropic organisation operating in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada. Indonesia scored 74 points in the 2024 WGI, surpassing Kenya (63 points) and Singapore (61 points), which ranked second and third respectively.
The WGI report highlights Indonesia's consistency in key indicators such as giving money, helping strangers and volunteering. A remarkable 90% of the population donates money to charity and 65% volunteer, placing Indonesia at the top of the world for both indicators.
Over the past decade, Indonesia, along with Ukraine, Chad, Russia and China, has seen the most significant increases in scores, each by more than 25 points.
Singapore's Generosity Surge
Singapore climbed 19 places to third place in the 2024 World Giving Index, achieving its highest score of 61 points, up from 49 points in 2022. This achievement is attributed to government initiatives that have strengthened philanthropy and volunteerism, such as new programmes to encourage collaboration between charities and businesses, and tax incentives for giving.
Singapore saw significant improvements in financial giving, helping strangers and volunteering, making it one of the countries with the largest increases this year. This is also the second time Singapore has entered the top 10, following a trend of growth since 2018.
According to the World Giving Index, Singapore's participation in monetary giving has increased by 45 per cent since 2021. The government has introduced a generous tax incentive scheme, offering an effective reduction of 250% for donations to approved charities, meaning that every SGD$1 donated reduces taxes by SGD$2.50.
The Change for Charity programme encourages spontaneous donations at the point of purchase, with the government matching funds up to SGD $20 million. Wealthy donors also benefit from significant tax breaks for overseas donations through new family office rules.
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Southeast Asia's Charity Growth, Philippines Hits in Report
Southeast Asia is one of the most generous regions in the world, along with Oceania and North America, with scores well above the global average of 40 points. In Southeast Asia, despite low levels of civic participation and moderate levels of life satisfaction, generosity is driven by religious factors.
In this region, the Philippines also experienced a significant increase in generosity during the pandemic. Although it declined in 2022, it returned to high levels in 2023. With a score of 47, the Philippines ranks 30th on the Index, making it one of the top three countries with the largest increases.
World Giving Index Breaks Records
CAF has published the list of the most generous countries in the 14th edition of the World Giving Index, which surveyed over 145,000 people in more than 140 countries.
The survey asked respondents three questions: Did you give money to a charity? Have you given your time to an organisation? Did you help someone you didn't know who needed help?
The survey showed a steady increase in volunteering, giving money and helping strangers, with the global Index score reaching a record high, previously only seen during the pandemic. In 2023, 73% of the world's adult population (4.3 billion people) were involved in giving time, money or helping strangers, according to the 2024 World Giving Index report.
