Kenyans are some of the most generous people in the world, a yearly global index of charitable giving released this week has indicated.
A good number of them regularly donate money to a good cause, volunteer to work for free, and often give a hand to complete strangers, says the World Giving Index 2017, which has ranked Kenya at position three out of 139 countries surveyed.
The country improved from position 12 last year and increased by eight percentage points from 52 per cent to 60 per cent, driven by improvements across each of the three giving behaviours.
Data collected from 139 countries around the world was evaluated to find out which countries are the most generous, according to three types of behaviour: Giving money to a good cause, volunteering their time and helping a stranger.
MOBILE APPLICATION
Kenya’s third score globally was driven by helping strangers after Myanmar and Indonesia which are the most generous countries in the world, driven by donating for a good cause.
Kenyans’ giving nature has been boosted by M-Changa, a mobile phone application run by telecommunications company Safaricom, that allows users to create a network of fund-raisers, donate money to good causes and keep the user updated on how the collection goes.
In 2016, Kenya was ranked at position 12 globally, falling for the first time outside of the top 10 globally since 2011.
This was because interviewing took place just five months after 148 people were murdered in the Garissa University College terror attack in April 2015.
In the World Giving Index 2017 ranking, Uganda was at position 22, Tanzania was at 63, South Sudan at position 73, and Rwanda at 101.
RICHEST COUNTRIES
Unlike the generally presumed notion that women are nurturing, according to this report, men were more likely to help a stranger compared to women as men were four percentage points ahead of the women when it came to giving a hand to an unfamiliar person.
Tanzania had the largest gender differential overall in the world as the report found 62 per cent of Tanzanian men helped a stranger compared to 44 per cent of women.
The index showed that the planet’s 10 richest countries by GDP per capita, like the United States, Switzerland, Singapore and Denmark, registered a decline in their generosity index score.
Myanmar, for the fourth consecutive year, held the top position of the World Giving Index as the most generous country as it had nine in 10 of those surveyed saying they had donated money during the previous month.
At the bottom of the World Giving Index was Yemen, the Middle East’s poorest country, which has been grappling with the effects of a civil war.
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