Global Donors League
We have published a number of studies about Irish support for charities, for example our research for Charities Institute Ireland.
But is there any evidence that the Irish are more generous than others when it comes to charitable donations?
As it happens, the World Happiness Report 2019 allows us to compare not only donations to charity but also volunteering activity as well.
Top Donors
The good news is that we Irish are indeed relatively generous in our support for charities, joint fourth in the world with Australia and the Netherlands, and only a fraction behind the UK and Malta (and the leaders: Thailand):
Top Volunteers
It is one thing to donate money, what about 'donating time'? While donating to charity and volunteering time to an organisation are significantly correlated (+0.47), it is by no means a perfect correlation. As a result, the ranking for the world's top volunteering nations is slightly different to that for donating to charity. Nevertheless, Ireland makes it into the global top 15, though significantly behind the leaders Sri Lanka, Liberia and the United States:
Complete Rankings
Below are tables showing the complete rankings for both charitable donations and volunteering from the WHR 2019 report:
| Global Rankings | % donated to charity in the past month |
| Thailand | 73% |
| United Kingdom | 72% |
| Malta | 71% |
| Australia | 70% |
| Netherlands | 70% |
| IRELAND | 70% |
| Indonesia | 69% |
| New Zealand | 68% |
| Iceland | 67% |
| Canada | 63% |
| United States | 62% |
| Hong Kong | 60% |
| Denmark | 60% |
| Norway | 60% |
| Qatar | 60% |
| Sweden | 57% |
| Switzerland | 54% |
| Austria | 53% |
| Sri Lanka | 53% |
| Luxembourg | 52% |
| Iran | 52% |
| Israel | 52% |
| Singapore | 50% |
| Germany | 49% |
| Haiti | 48% |
| Cyprus | 46% |
| Chile | 45% |
| Malaysia | 45% |
| Finland | 43% |
| Syria | 43% |
| Laos | 43% |
| Mongolia | 42% |
| Cambodia | 42% |
| Belgium | 41% |
| Taiwan | 41% |
| Puerto Rico | 39% |
| Kosovo | 39% |
| Italy | 38% |
| Slovenia | 37% |
| Trinidad | 37% |
| Kenya | 36% |
| South Korea | 35% |
| Lebanon | 35% |
| Paraguay | 34% |
| Bosnia | 33% |
| Panama | 33% |
| Guatemala | 33% |
| Pakistan | 33% |
| Costa Rica | 33% |
| Uzbekistan | 32% |
| Tanzania | 32% |
| Nepal | 31% |
| Spain | 30% |
| Nigeria | 30% |
| Saudi Arabia | 30% |
| Slovakia | 30% |
| All Countries | 29% |
| Poland | 29% |
| Belize | 29% |
| Nicaragua | 28% |
| Afghanistan | 28% |
| Macedonia | 28% |
| Honduras | 28% |
| France | 28% |
| Latvia | 27% |
| Dominican Republic | 27% |
| Uruguay | 26% |
| Sierra Leone | 26% |
| India | 26% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 25% |
| Philippines | 25% |
| Ghana | 25% |
| Japan | 24% |
| Vietnam | 23% |
| Colombia | 23% |
| Mauritania | 23% |
| Portugal | 23% |
| Bolivia | 22% |
| Uganda | 22% |
| Serbia | 22% |
| Romania | 22% |
| Malawi | 22% |
| Kazakhstan | 21% |
| Mexico | 21% |
| Zambia | 21% |
| Croatia | 21% |
| Hungary | 21% |
| Moldova | 21% |
| Montenegro | 20% |
| Estonia | 20% |
| Sudan | 20% |
| Tajikistan | 20% |
| Peru | 19% |
| Cameroon | 19% |
| Argentina | 19% |
| Jordan | 19% |
| Albania | 19% |
| Belarus | 19% |
| Ethiopia | 18% |
| Turkey | 18% |
| Ukraine | 18% |
| Ecuador | 17% |
| Bulgaria | 17% |
| Liberia | 17% |
| Mozambique | 17% |
| South Africa | 17% |
| Rwanda | 16% |
| Bangladesh | 16% |
| Egypt | 16% |
| Chad | 16% |
| Azerbaijan | 15% |
| CAR | 14% |
| Botswana | 14% |
| Angola | 14% |
| Venezuela | 13% |
| Burkina Faso | 13% |
| El Salvador | 13% |
| Senegal | 13% |
| Lithuania | 12% |
| Mali | 12% |
| Congo | 12% |
| Benin | 11% |
| Algeria | 11% |
| Namibia | 11% |
| Madagascar | 11% |
| Tunisia | 11% |
| China | 11% |
| Russia | 10% |
| Zimbabwe | 10% |
| Togo | 9% |
| Armenia | 9% |
| Niger | 9% |
| Burundi | 7% |
| Georgia | 5% |
| http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/ | |
| Global Rankings | % volunteered time to a charity in the past month |
| Liberia | 49% |
| Sri Lanka | 48% |
| United States | 42% |
| New Zealand | 42% |
| Sierra Leone | 41% |
| Tajikistan | 40% |
| Philippines | 39% |
| Indonesia | 39% |
| IRELAND | 38% |
| Australia | 38% |
| Canada | 37% |
| Kenya | 36% |
| Netherlands | 36% |
| Mongolia | 36% |
| Uzbekistan | 36% |
| Guatemala | 35% |
| Nigeria | 34% |
| Slovenia | 34% |
| Dominican Republic | 33% |
| Norway | 32% |
| Trinidad | 32% |
| Switzerland | 32% |
| Ghana | 32% |
| Haiti | 31% |
| Honduras | 31% |
| Mozambique | 30% |
| Luxembourg | 30% |
| Malawi | 30% |
| United Kingdom | 30% |
| Malaysia | 30% |
| Finland | 29% |
| Zambia | 29% |
| France | 28% |
| Nepal | 27% |
| Belarus | 27% |
| Austria | 27% |
| Iceland | 27% |
| Panama | 27% |
| Puerto Rico | 26% |
| Uganda | 26% |
| Belgium | 26% |
| Cyprus | 26% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 26% |
| Malta | 25% |
| Belize | 25% |
| Madagascar | 25% |
| Germany | 25% |
| South Africa | 25% |
| Japan | 24% |
| Iran | 23% |
| Costa Rica | 23% |
| Israel | 23% |
| Sudan | 23% |
| Denmark | 22% |
| Azerbaijan | 22% |
| Bolivia | 22% |
| Namibia | 22% |
| South Korea | 22% |
| Paraguay | 22% |
| CAR | 21% |
| Kazakhstan | 21% |
| Nicaragua | 21% |
| Colombia | 21% |
| Zimbabwe | 21% |
| Ukraine | 20% |
| Singapore | 20% |
| All Countries | 20% |
| Peru | 19% |
| Botswana | 19% |
| Mexico | 19% |
| Taiwan | 19% |
| India | 19% |
| El Salvador | 18% |
| Afghanistan | 18% |
| Estonia | 18% |
| Russia | 18% |
| Georgia | 18% |
| Moldova | 17% |
| Hong Kong | 17% |
| Ethiopia | 17% |
| Angola | 17% |
| Qatar | 17% |
| Italy | 16% |
| Argentina | 16% |
| Mauritania | 16% |
| Spain | 16% |
| Cameroon | 16% |
| Thailand | 15% |
| Uruguay | 15% |
| Chile | 15% |
| Chad | 15% |
| Congo | 15% |
| Burkina Faso | 15% |
| Togo | 15% |
| Tanzania | 14% |
| Slovakia | 14% |
| Ecuador | 14% |
| Pakistan | 14% |
| Portugal | 14% |
| Saudi Arabia | 14% |
| Sweden | 14% |
| Rwanda | 14% |
| Senegal | 13% |
| Laos | 13% |
| Benin | 13% |
| Syria | 13% |
| Venezuela | 13% |
| Vietnam | 12% |
| Poland | 12% |
| Kosovo | 11% |
| Bangladesh | 11% |
| Lithuania | 11% |
| Lebanon | 10% |
| Niger | 10% |
| Latvia | 10% |
| Mali | 10% |
| Hungary | 10% |
| Algeria | 9% |
| Macedonia | 9% |
| Croatia | 9% |
| Tunisia | 9% |
| Burundi | 9% |
| Turkey | 9% |
| Albania | 8% |
| Cambodia | 8% |
| Armenia | 8% |
| Montenegro | 8% |
| Jordan | 7% |
| Romania | 7% |
| Egypt | 6% |
| Bulgaria | 5% |
| Bosnia | 5% |
| Serbia | 5% |
| China | 5% |
| http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/ | |
