Thread: America "The Giving"

Americans Give Bigger Share to Charity Than Residents of Other Countries

By Harvy Lipman

Americans donate a greater share of the country's economic output to charity than do the residents of 11 other countries, according to a new study.

The report, by the Charities Aid Foundation in the United Kingdom, found that giving in the United States equals 1.67 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. The United Kingdom was second among the 12 counties in the study, at 0.73 percent. France was last, at 0.14 percent.

Religious giving accounts for much of the difference between the United States and other nations, the study found. About 60 percent of the variation between the United States and the United Kingdom, the report states, is due to the higher rate at which Americans donate to religious organizations.

The British give a much higher percentage of their donations to international causes, however, with 13 percent of all giving in the United Kingdom going overseas, compared with just 3 percent of American contributions.

The report found that charitable giving tends to make up a smaller percentage of a nation's economic output in countries with higher tax levels, especially if tax money is used to finance insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare.

In the United States, for example, taxes account for 29.1 percent of all labor costs, the report found, the fourth lowest figure among the countries studied (only Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand had lower tax percentages). The three highest tax percentages were in the countries with the three lowest giving rates: France, Germany, and Turkey.

The Charities Aid Foundation works with individuals, companies, and charities in the United Kingdom to facilitate charitable giving. The report will be available on its Web site, on November 24.

http://philanthropy.com/free/update/...2006112202.htm

The US gives out more money than any other country. Period.

Not that most of them aren't worth it, though.