Figures produced by the Charities Aid Foundation and reported in the Financial Times suggest that Australians and New Zealanders are the most generous charitable donors across the world.

The World Giving Index is a pioneering study of global charitable donations and volunteering, and awards scores based on a combined assessment of the proportion of each country’s population that has given money, time or help to strangers.

Around 30% of the world’s population was found to have donated money, while 20% had volunteered to charitable causes. The overall rankings placed Sri Lanka and Laos closely behind Australia and New Zealand, but the study raised many other interesting points. For instance, the results suggest that happier people give more than the wealthy.

Looking beyond the combined scores, at 83% of the population, Malta was found to be the most generous nation in terms of given money to charity, though the Netherlands, UK and Thailand were not far behind. Turkmenistan boasted the greatest contribution of volunteering (61%), while Liberians were found to be most likely to help strangers (76%).

To find out more about how you can contribute to our charity by volunteering abroad or donating, visit the FutureSense Foundation page.