BAHRAIN has been ranked among the 10 generous countries in the world for donating to charities, according to a new report.
London-based Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) released its annual World Giving Index 2021 which ranks Bahrain overall as the 12th most generous country in the world with a score of 45 per cent.
“Sixty-four per cent of people in Bahrain helped a stranger last year, 51pc donated money to charities or the needy, and 19pc have spent time volunteering,” the report pointed out.
Indonesia tops the index with a score of 69pc, followed by Kenya, Nigeria, Myanmar and Australia while Japan was ranked at the bottom.
More than eight in 10 Indonesians donated money this year and the country’s rate of volunteering is more than three times the global average, according to the report.
Among Gulf countries, Bahrain is placed 12th, followed by the UAE (13), and Saudi Arabia (49), while Kuwait, Qatar and Oman are not covered in the index. In 2020, Jordan had the lowest participation rates for volunteering, with just 5pc of adults joining a cause.
Bahrain was not covered in the 2019 index, but in 2018 it was ranked 10th globally with a score of 53pc.
Fallen
The latest study covers 114 countries surveyed last year – more than 121,000 respondents were questioned on many aspects of life today including the act of giving.
The 2021 CAF index revealed that more than three in 10 adults around the world donated money to charity during the pandemic, and more than three billion people helped someone they didn’t know last year.
“The ravages of Covid-19 on charitable giving around the globe are laid bare in the pages of this report,” said CAF chief executive Neil Heslop.
Many of the countries that have been stalwarts of our straight-forward gauge of global generosity over the past decade have fallen not just out of the top 10, but the top 20.
“The number of people who reported helping a stranger stands at a staggering 55pc, the highest figure we have recorded in our annual survey and one that speaks to the wave of genuine concern for our neighbours that so many of us have witnessed in our day-to-day lives.”
This year’s survey shows that many countries which have consistently featured in the Top 10 have fallen far down the rankings.
The US, UK, Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands have all seen significant decreases in their index scores which can be attributed to the impact of lockdowns on charitable giving.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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