Filipinos among most generous, study says

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos are among the most generous people in the world, according a new study made by a charity foundation.

Even while the world has become a less generous place, the Philippines was among the top 5 nation devoting the most amount of time to charity work, with the country having the largest number of people in Southeast Asia volunteering their time, the UK-based Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) said.

"Volunteering is particularly commonplace there, with more people volunteering (44%) than in any other country in [Southeast Asia]," the report said. "Indeed, the Philippines is ranked fifth globally for its participation in volunteering. The Philippines has a World Giving Index score that exceeds (by four percentage points) its five-year average."

The Philippines placed 17th overall worldwide in the 146-nation World Giving Index 2012 that was led by Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA.

In terms of giving money, the Philippines placed 47th, with 32% of Filipinos donating cash to charity.

The Philippines also placed 26th on helping strangers.

Greece and Montenegro were the least generous countries, the report said.

The CAF said the world becoming a less generous place last year mirrors global economic patterns.

According to the report, the proportion of people giving money to good causes, volunteering or helping a stranger all fell last year and were also down on 2007.

CAF, which romotes charitable giving and provides financial services and social finance to not-for-profit organizations, compiled the report using Gallup data on more than 155,000 people in 146 countries.

The report found out that the average proportion of people across 146 countries donating money to charity fell from 29.8% in 2007 to 28% in 2011.

The percentage of people helping strangers was 45.1% in 2011 – down from 47.0% in 2007, while the proportion volunteering their time was down from 21.4% in 2007 to 18.4% in 2011.

CAF said charities must become more entrepreneurial and less reliant on government funding and on groups such as theirs. - With reports from ANC, Reuters