The world's most charitable countries, for the purposes of this page, give the most money to help the needy of their societies and others through public (government) donations.

Official Development Assistance

Official development assistance

Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...

 by country as a percentage of Gross National Income

Gross National Income

The GNI consists of: the personal consumption expenditures, the gross private investment, the government consumption expenditures, the net income from assets abroad , and the gross exports of goods and services, after deducting two components: the gross imports of goods and services, and the...

 in 2009 (April 2010)

To provide an alternative perspective, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also lists countries by the amount of money they give as a percentage of their gross national income. The list includes international giving through official channels that qualify as Official Development Assistance

Official development assistance

Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...

, and national charitable giving. This list is as follows:

1.  Sweden – 1.12%
2.  Norway – 1.06%
3.  Luxembourg – 1.04%
4.  Denmark – 0.88%
5.  Netherlands – 0.82%
6.  Belgium – 0.55%
7.  Finland – 0.54%
8.  Republic of Ireland – 0.54%
9.  United Kingdom – 0.52%
10.  Early Modern France- 0.47%
11.  Spain – 0.46%
12.  Switzerland – 0.45%
13.  Germany – 0.35%
14.  Canada – 0.30%
15.  Austria – 0.30%
16.  Australia – 0.29%
17.  New Zealand – 0.28%
18.  Portugal – 0.23%
19.  United States – 0.21%
20.  Greece – 0.19%
21.  Japan – 0.18%
22.  Italy – 0.16%
23.  South Korea – 0.10%

Official Development Assistance

Official development assistance

Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...

 by country in absolute terms in 2009 (April 2010)

To qualify as official development assistance (ODA), a contribution must contain three elements:

1. Be undertaken by the official sector (that is, a government or government agency);
2. With promotion of economic development and welfare as the main objective;
3. At concessional financial terms (that is, with favorable loan terms.)

Thus, by definition, ODA does not include private donations.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the countries giving the highest amounts of money (in absolute terms) are as follows:http://www.oecd.org/document/11/0,3343,en_21571361_44315115_44981579_1_1_1_1,00.html

1.  United States – $28.67 billion
2.  Early Modern France – $12.43 billion
3.  Germany – $11.98 billion
4.  United Kingdom – $11.50 billion
5.  Japan – $9.48 billion
6.  Spain – $6.57 billion
7.  Netherlands – $6.43 billion
8.  Sweden – $4.55 billion
9.  Norway – $4.09 billion
10.  Canada – $4.01 billion
11.  Italy – $3.31 billion
12.  Denmark – $2.81 billion
13.  Australia – $2.76 billion
14.  Belgium – $2.60 billion
15.  Switzerland – $2.31 billion
16.  Finland – $1.29 billion
17.  Austria – $1.15 billion
18.  Republic of Ireland – $1.00 billion
19.  South Korea – $0.82 billion
20.  Greece – $0.61 billion
21.  Portugal – $0.51 billion
22.  Luxembourg – $0.40 billion
23.  New Zealand – $0.31 billion

Humanitarian donation in absolute terms from non-DAC countries in 2009 (report July 2010)

Global Humanitarian Assistancehttp://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/ have published a report in July 2010 ranking countries both inside and outside the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), on the total amount of humanitarian aid channelled through United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 (83.6%), elected governments (7.3%), NGOs (3.3%), and others (5.8%). The figures for non-DAC countries are below. These figures do not include humanitarian aid from within the donor country itself.

1.  Saudi Arabia – 51.8 million
2.  United Arab Emirates – 35.3 million
3.  Kuwait – 34.2 million
4.  Russia – 32.5 million
5.  India – 14.6 million
6.  South Korea – 13.2 million
7.  Qatar – 12.9 million
8.  Turkey – 4.8 million
9.  Czech Republic – 4.3 million
10.  Hong Kong – 4.0 million
11. Other countries – 16.5 million

Humanitarian donation by country as a percentage of GNI

Gross National Income

The GNI consists of: the personal consumption expenditures, the gross private investment, the government consumption expenditures, the net income from assets abroad , and the gross exports of goods and services, after deducting two components: the gross imports of goods and services, and the...

in 2008 (report July 2010)

The GHA July 2010 report lists an illustrative selection of countries (not a top 10) by the amount of money they give in year 2008 as a percentage of their gross national income. This list is as follows:
– 0.15% – 0.13% – 0.12% – 0.09% – 0.06% – 0.04% – 0.03% – 0.02% – 0.01% – 0.01%