Buddhist Values Make Myanmar Most Generous
Nation Along With the US
BuddhistdoorInternational Staff Reporter
2014-11-25
Myanmar
has been ranked one of the two most generous nations in the 2014
World Giving Index, which included 135 countries. Myanmar shared
the top position with the United States according to the survey,
which was conducted by the UK-based Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)
based on three criteria: donating money to charity, volunteering
time, and helping strangers. In his foreword to this year’s report,
CAF’s chief executive Dr. John Low states: “The index shows high
levels of generosity in countries facing turmoil – reflecting a
pattern of giving in post-conflict nations as people help others
through the most difficult of times. And it shows people’s innate
desire to help others, even in nations which do not have anything
like the standard of living enjoyed in the West.”
According
to Jessica Durando of USA Today, the US is the only country ranked
in the top ten in all three factors, with a score increase from 61
per cent in the previous index to 64 per cent. Myanmar’s high score
of 91 per cent, on the other hand, comes from donating money alone.
The CAF report states that the munificence of Myanmar—it has
500,000 Buddhist monks—stems from the Theravada Buddhist practice
of dana,
or generosity, and that “the position of Myanmar reminds us how
important each country’s distinctive culture is in the predilection
of its people to be charitable.” Esther Htusan of the Associated
Press writes that the half million Buddhist monks make up of almost
one per cent of the country’s total population, and donating money
and food to them is a way of earning merit. The monks, who spend
most of their time meditating and praying, do charitable deeds in
return, which keeps the giving cycle alive.
The report also praises
women all over the world, who often earn
less than their male counterparts. “Since 2009, women have become
more likely than men to donate money to charity at a global level –
this is despite the gap in economic participation that still exists
between men and women worldwide. Reflecting this global disparity,
women are only more likely to give money in high income countries;
in middle and low income countries men are more likely to donate,”
it states.
Patrick
Rooney, associate dean for research and academic affairs at the
Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, told
Jessica Durando that giving in the States has grown at a reasonable
rate since the Great Recession. “The good news is that giving
didn’t fall off the map during the Great Recession. The bad news is
as we’ve recovered it’s continued to grow but more slowly than we
hoped for,” he said, adding that Americans are “very
philanthropic.”
Other
countries among the top ten, in order, are Canada, Ireland, New
Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, and
Trinidad and Tobago. Thailand, one of the three major Theravada
countries, was ranked 21st. According to the CAG report, only 5 of
the G20 countries are in the top 20 this year, and 11 were ranked
outside the top 50; 3 were even outside the top 100.
See
more
World Giving Index
2014
Charities Aid Foundation
(CAF)
‘Most generous’ Myanmar’s giving
cycle
The world’s most generous country has been
named
Which country is most charitable? The
USA -- and Myanmar